Cancer Drug Price Rises 1,400% With No Generic to Challenge It My knee jerk reaction is that this is insane. They did not spend a penny on research and development for it - that was done 40 years ago! However, without this company making it, we wouldn't be able to use it. Nobody would be making it. If anyone else wanted to make it, they would be able to, and the price would go down. Medicare (which is probably the largest payer for this drug) paid about $600,000 last year for this drug, at the high price. Back when it was cheaper, they used to spend $160,000 a year on it. That isn't enough money for a drug company to take on it on. Even for a generic drug, it requires some people to work on it, manufacturing and distribution costs, advertising as well as insurance in case it causes problems. I can see how a drug used in rare instances can be this expensive.
