Given how expensive many cancer drugs are, it is alarming that the government, private insurers and patients spend an estimated $3 billion a year on cancer medicines that are thrown out because they are packaged in unnecessarily large quantities. The Food and Drug Administration ought to figure out ways to reduce this costly waste.
A new study of waste in cancer drugs by researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and the University of Chicago adds to the evidence that drug prices are set to maximize profits for pharmaceutical companies and have only a little to do with the value of those medicines or the cost of research and clinical trials.
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