Monday, February 22, 2021
Queen’s University health expert Bishal Gyawali (Oncology) is available to talk about his latest research that has been published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association Internal Medicine.
The paper looks at the level of evidence and magnitude of clinical benefit of cancer drugs recommended for provincial reimbursement in Canada and compares them with those that were not recommended, as well as those approved in the United States.
“These results highlight major challenges and opportunities for Canadian cancer drug policy says Dr. Gyawali. For example, we find that only 50% of cancer drugs recommended for reimbursement in Canada have evidence of improving survival of patients.”
The cohort study found that although the pan-Canadian Oncology Drug Review (pCODR) takes into account the magnitude of clinical benefit, only half of the cancer drugs that received a positive recommendation had evidence of improved overall survival and the survival gains were usually modest. These results suggest that although the pCODR helps filter out some cancer drugs with low quality of evidence and benefit, cancer drugs without meaningful patient benefit continue to enter the Canadian market. These findings will help to make reimbursement policy decisions both in Canada and globally.
An accompanying editorial can be found here.
To arrange an interview, please contact communications officer Julie Brown ( 343-363-2763 or Julie.brown@queensu.ca) at Queen’s University News and Media Services Department in Kingston, Ont., Canada.
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