Price gouging appears to be a growing problem in the UK, where price tags for generic versions of more than a dozen cancer medicines rose between 100 percent and 1,100 percent from 2011 to 2016, even though the drugs can be made for very little, according to a new analysis by UK researchers.
The researchers found there was often a lack of competition for 14 off-patent medicines and, as a result, the outlays are straining the UK’s National Health Service at a time when cancer drugs are being rationed. One example cited was the busulfan chemotherapy for leukemia, which rose 1,143 percent during that five-year period. The analysis was presented over the weekend at the European Cancer Congress in Amsterdam.
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