Colorectal cancer treatment costs twice as much in the U.S. as it does in Canada, although the survival rate is almost identical, according to a study presented at the 2018 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting in Chicago, detailed in Medscape.
Here are four things to know:
1. The study found that the average monthly cost of first-line therapy per colorectal cancer patient was $12,345 in western Washington state compared to $6,195 for patients living in British Columbia, Canada.
2. The study cohort included 1,622 patients diagnosed with metastatic colorectal cancer in British Columbia and 575 in western Washington. All patients were diagnosed in 2010.
3. More U.S. patients received systemic therapy than Canadians — 79 percent compared with 68 percent of the Canadian cohort. The mean lifetime monthly costs for systemic therapy was $7,883 for the U.S. patients and $4,830 for the Canadian patients.
4. Median overall survival did not differ among patients receiving systemic therapy and patients not receiving chemotherapy in the U.S. and Canadian cohorts.
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