German experts question efficacy of expensive new cancer drugs

German healthcare experts have called for an independent committee to control the introduction of new cancer drugs to the market reports an article in Der Spiegel, 17 May 2010.

A leaked confidential report submitted to the German health ministry by five healthcare experts, spearheaded by health economist Gerd Glaeske from Bremen University, indicates that the price of new cancer drugs should be linked to proof that they work in normal clinical settings rather than in clinical trials of selected patient groups—the current criterion for marketing authorisation.

The German equivalent of the …