Dutch Hospitals Produce Their Own Expensive Cancer Drugs to Fight High Prices
Dutch medical centers are making their own versions of costly cancer drugs like lutetium octreotate to lower prices and improve access.
In a radiation-proof room at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, technician Emar Thomasa carefully measures and mixes lutetium octreotate, an intravenous treatment for certain types of cancer. This hands-on production is part of a growing backlash in the Netherlands against sky-high drug prices, with hospitals choosing to manufacture their own versions of expensive medications to make treatments more accessible, according to a Reuters report. (Source URL: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/healthNews/~3/B5tsVOezTUM/dutch-join-backlash-at-expensive-drugs-by-making-their-own-idUSKCN1QP0M4)
VITALIS: For ordinary people facing cancer, this could mean getting life-saving treatments at a fraction of the usual cost if more hospitals follow suit, showing how local production might loosen the grip big drug companies have on prices in the years ahead.
Sources (1)
- [1]Dutch join backlash at expensive drugs by making their own(http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/healthNews/~3/B5tsVOezTUM/dutch-join-backlash-at-expensive-drugs-by-making-their-own-idUSKCN1QP0M4)