Breast Cancer Patient Attitudes Towards Oncology Drug Costs in Ireland

TL;DR

This study explores how breast cancer patients in Ireland feel about the high costs of cancer drugs and their desire to be informed about these costs.

Contribution

The study provides new insights into patient attitudes towards oncology drug costs and acceptable cost-reduction methods in Ireland.

Findings

Most breast cancer patients found the societal costs of cancer medications to be unacceptable.

A majority of patients expressed a desire to be better informed about the societal costs of their treatment.

There was a significant difference in the desire for information between early-stage and metastatic breast cancer patients.

Abstract

The cost of cancer medications is rapidly increasing, which presents a significant problem for patients and healthcare systems. Limited prior research has investigated patient attitudes towards the societal costs of cancer treatment and towards potential methods used to reduce these costs. This study found that a majority of patients with breast cancer found the societal costs of many cancer medications to be unacceptable. Furthermore, most patients indicated that they would like to be better informed of the societal costs of their treatment. These results further highlight the need to reduce drug costs and a potential desire amongst patients to be better informed of treatment costs. This study also identified several cost-reduction methods which were acceptable to many patients. This may help inform future policy decisions at international levels to ensure legislation reflects patient preference. Future studies should seek to investigate patient attitudes towards drug costs for other malignancies.

Background: Oncology medication costs are increasing internationally; patient attitudes towards these costs remain unclear. Methods: A three-part cross-sectional questionnaire was distributed to patients with breast cancer to determine their attitudes towards oncology medication costs and to explore potential patient-acceptable methods to reduce these costs. Results: A total of 321 patients were eligible for inclusion and 180 fully completed the questionnaire (56.1% response rate). Overall, 67.8% (N = 122/180) of patients found the costs presented in the questionnaire to be unacceptable. 92.2% (N = 166/180), 87.8% (N = 158/180) and 68.9% (N = 124/180) of participants found the costs of pembrolizumab, palbociclib and trastuzumab respectively to be unacceptable. A total of 72.8% (N = 131/180) of patients indicated that they would like to be better informed about the societal costs of their cancer treatment and 81.1% (N = 146/180) of patients believed that reducing the costs of cancer treatment to society is important. There was a statistically significant difference in patient desires to be better informed of societal drug costs between those with early-stage breast cancer and those with metastatic disease (75.8% vs. 47.4%, χ2 = 6.923, p = 0.009). Conclusions: These findings indicate that many Irish patients with breast cancer find the societal costs of oncology medications to be unacceptable, and many patients have a desire to be better informed of these costs.

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