The Expensive Cancer Treatment In The World: Does The Treatment Even Work? A new study, to be published in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Political Economy, calculates the prospective gains that could be obtained from further progress against major diseases.
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Kevin M. Murphy and Robert H. Topel, two University of Chicago researchers, estimate that even modest advancements against major diseases would have a significant impact — a 1 percent reduction in mortality from cancer has a value to Americans of nearly $500 billion. A cure for cancer would be worth about $50 trillion.
“We distinguish two types of health improvements — those that extend the life and those that raise the quality of life,” explain the authors.
“As the population grows, as incomes grow, and as the baby-boom generation approaches the primary ages of disease-related death, the social value of improvements in health will continue to rise.”
Many critiques of rising medical expenditures focus on life-extending procedures for persons near death.
By breaking down net gains by age and gender, Murphy and Topel show that the value of increased longevity far exceeds rising medical expenditures overall.
Gains in life expectancy over the last century were worth about $1.2 million per person to the current population, with the largest gains at birth and young age.
“An analysis of the value of health improvements is a first step toward evaluating the social returns to medical research and health-augmenting innovations,” write the authors.
“Improvements in life expectancy raise willingness to pay for further health improvements by increasing the value of remaining life.”
Murphy and Topel also chart individual values resulting from the permanent reduction in mortality in several major diseases — including heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.
Overall, reductions in mortality from 1970 to 2000 had an economic value to the U.S. population of $3.2 trillion per year.
JPE has been presenting significant research and scholarship in economic theory and practice since its inception in 1892.
Publishing analytical, interpretive, and empirical studies, the Journal presents work in traditional areas–monetary theory, fiscal policy, labor economics, development, micro-and macroeconomic theory, international trade and finance, industrial organization, and social economics.
Could Somebody Be Hiding The Cure For Cancer?
A stubborn myth that we often see popping up on social media is that there’s already a cure for cancer, but it’s being hidden from the public for some reason. A myth is exactly what this is. Read on to get the full explanation from our experts.
One survey suggests that over a quarter of Americans believe this to be absolutely true, while a further 1 in 7 believe that it might be true.
Could there really be a big conspiracy? Is it possible that pharmaceutical companies are hiding the cure for cancer to make a profit from cancer drugs?
We want to shed some light on the issue and explain why it’s simply not true – there is no ‘hidden cancer cure’.
Because we already know we’re not looking for a single cure for cancer.
Cancer is a name for a group of over 200 distinct diseases. Types of cancer vary considerably in their causes and the way in which they grow and spread – the sheer complexity of cancer makes a single cure incredibly unlikely.
We may not find a single cure, but we do have the tools and treatments to cure many people already.
Cancer survival rates have doubled in the last 40 years and continue to improve. Half of all people diagnosed with cancer in the UK in 2019 will survive their disease for 10 years or longer.
That’s astonishing progress – and it’s been achieved by cancer research that has been carried out over years.
Because it wouldn’t be profitable for ‘Big Pharma’ to hide a cure for cancer.
Apart from the scientific improbability of a universal cancer cure, it wouldn’t make a lot of economic sense to hide a cure, either.
Even if a potential silver bullet existed, it would take decades to test it on each type and stage of cancer. This kind of testing requires vast amounts of money.
What would the benefit of hiding a cure be? Big pharmaceutical companies invest billions in the development of new drugs.
If one of them had struck gold and found a magic bullet, they’d want to claim those expenses back.
Because it wouldn’t be possible to keep something like a cure for cancer secret.
The sheer scale of the operation would be mind-boggling. Think of the huge amount of people involved in the research and manufacturing of the drug. Could that number of people really keep such a secret?
Dr. Robert Grimes published a great paper in which he studied the mathematical likelihood of conspiracy theories.
He created a model using real uncovered medical conspiracies to estimate how long it would take for something like this to be uncovered, depending on the number of people involved.
Dr. Grimes estimated that, if only the biggest pharmaceutical companies were involved in the conspiracy, there would still be around 714,000 people who knew something.
And with that many people involved; his calculations show that it would only take around 3.17 years for someone to blab.
Because cancer researchers want to create new treatments that help people.
A lot of people believe in a ‘Big Pharma’ conspiracy because the companies involved are exactly that – companies that exist to make money for their shareholders.
But these companies aren’t faceless, they’re made up of people. And whether people are rich, famous, or board members of a pharmaceutical company, cancer doesn’t care, it affects everyone.
Everyone knows somebody that has been affected by the disease – it doesn’t make sense that some of those people would be willing to risk their lives and the lives of their loved ones by hiding new cures.
Because we are all human, and we all have the same goal.
At Worldwide Cancer Research, we are surrounded by colleagues, scientists, doctors, patients, and supporters who are dedicated to their quests to conquer cancer.
Suggesting that there’s some kind of conspiracy to make money by holding back a lifesaving cure for cancer insults the people who contribute every day to finding new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat the disease.
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