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Growth in Spending on Cancer Therapies Nearly Doubles on the Heels of New Oral Oncologics

Posted on: Monday, 16 May 2005, 15:01 CDT

FRANKLIN LAKES, N.J., May 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The infusion and uptake of new oral oncology agents to treat an ever-expanding number of cancer patients has altered the landscape in the cancer therapy category, creating more opportunity to treat those afflicted with the disease, but also generating a management challenge for health plan sponsors and employers, according to a new report by pharmacy benefit manager Medco Health Solutions . The data is being released as thousands of oncologists gather in Orlando, Fla. for the annual American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting.

Spending on cancer and transplant drugs accelerated from an 8.7 percent growth rate in 2003 to a 15.3 percent rate in 2004, driven primarily by increased utilization of two new oral oncology drugs. Specifically, spending on prescription drugs to treat various forms of cancer grew 25.9 percent in 2004, and accounted for 10.6 percent of the total spending in the rapidly growing specialty pharmacy business last year, according to the 2005 Medco Drug Trend Report.

Utilization of oncology drugs jumped 13.7 percent in a year that saw the introductions of new oral cancer therapies, and approvals for new drug therapies to treat colorectal cancer and lung cancer. And while unit costs accounted for 10.7 percent of spending increases in the category, this figure was moderated by the increased use of generic drugs including leuprolide, azathioprine and methotrexate.

"The pipeline for oncology treatments is on the verge of exploding, as are the estimates for diagnosis of new cancer patients," said Steve Russek, R.Ph., vice president, Medco Special Care Pharmacy Services. "The clinical community is currently in a unique position to provide a wealth of treatment options for current and new cancer patients, but the challenge is optimizing therapies across their complete continuum of care in the most cost-effective way."

According to Medco's Drug Trend Report, more than 200 oncology drugs are currently under clinical investigation, and several of these drugs could generate billions in sales. The American Cancer Society estimates that 1.37 million new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in 2005.

Special management challenges for high-cost conditions

Price tags for specialty drugs -- traditionally high-cost, often injectible medications that require special handling and specialized patient support -- can run anywhere from four times the annual cost of a common chronic medication such as a statin to nearly 300 times as much. In 2004, spending on specialty drugs grew by 20.4 percent, nearly three times the rate of growth for overall prescription drug spending (8.5 percent). Specialty drugs accounted for 8.5 percent of total pharmacy spending in 2004, an increase from 5.6 percent over 2003.

Perhaps most challenging for the clinical community though is managing the complete care of patients taking specialty medications. According to an analysis released by Medco last week at its 2005 Drug Trend Symposium, the average specialty drug patient takes as many as 12 other medications, a much higher incidence of concurrent therapies than the average person taking prescription drugs.

Russek underscores the need to integrate the physician, pharmacist and nurse that comprise the specialty patient's healthcare team into the full care picture to ensure the specialty therapy is optimized, and costs are managed appropriately.

"If your specialty pharmacy, specialty pharmacy nurse and pharmacist aren't looking across the patient's total care landscape, they may be missing a major portion of that patient's therapy," said Russek. "The solution is to manage the patient and the condition, not just the drug. By integrating traditional pharmacy data, specialty pharmacy data, medical claims, laboratory values and patient-reported data, we can optimize therapy, reduce unnecessary and total healthcare costs, and improve member and physician satisfaction."

About Medco

Medco Health Solutions is a leader in managing prescription drug programs that are designed to drive down the cost of pharmacy healthcare for private and public employers, health plans, labor unions and government agencies of all sizes. Medco operates the largest mail order and Internet pharmacies and has been recognized for setting new industry benchmarks for pharmacy dispensing quality. Medco, ranked by Fortune Magazine as one of America's "Most Admired" healthcare companies, is a Fortune 50 company with 2004 revenues of $35 billion. Medco is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol MHS. On the Net: http://www.medco.com/

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause results to differ materially from those set forth in the statements. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed, and actual results may differ materially from those projected. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Forward-looking statements in this presentation should be evaluated together with the risks and uncertainties that affect our business, particularly those mentioned in the Risk Factors section of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Medco Health Solutions, Inc.

CONTACT: Ann Smith, Medco Health Solutions, Inc., +1-201-269-5984,ann_smith@medco.com; or Kevin Lamb or Bill Borden, Coyne Public Relations,+1-973-316-1665, for Medco Health Solutions

Web site: http://www.medco.com/

Source: PRNewswire-FirstCall

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