Why are cancer drugs so expensive?

Before any new cancer drug developed in the lab can be licensed for use, it must be rigorously tested in clinical trials to prove that it is safe, effective and better than existing treatments.

Cancer Research UK supports early clinical studies involving small numbers of patients to test new drugs developed by our scientists, but the enormous cost and resource implications of larger trials mean that the pharmaceutical industry is largely responsible for taking promising new drugs further.

It can take many years, or even decades, before a drug is licensed for prescription and only 10-20 per cent of cancer drugs tested will ultimately be approved for use, based on their success in clinical trials.

The cost of new cancer drugs therefore reflects not only the manufacturing costs, but also the expense of research and development, and the fact that only a small proportion of drugs will be suitable for treating patients. This all means that no drug will ever be supplied to the NHS free of charge.

This issue was raised recently at the NCRI Conference. A report of the session on the cost of cancer drugs can be found here.