California bill threatens cancer drug development
Cancer is frightening in the abstract, and even more so when it becomes your reality.
Three years ago, I was diagnosed at a relatively young age with late-stage colon cancer and have since gone through extensive treatments.
My husband and three children, the dedication of the healthcare professionals who treated me, and support from patient- driven communities such as Colontown have helped me stay strong through treatment.
But there is something else that helps push me through difficult cancer treatments: Hope. The hope that new research and clinical trials will yield innovative medicines that will allow me to be there for my children. Now, legislation — SB 17 — before the California Legislature could jeopardize that hope.
We have reached an inflec- tion point with cancer research and treatment.
The care I am receiving is light-years ahead of what I would have received only a few years ago. In many ways we are moving away from tools that take a blunt approach to new treatments that are more precise and targeted. Today, people with the same type of cancer may receive different medications, depending on the specific profiles of their tumors.
The result of these innovations is that there is more hope for remission, recovery, or improved comfort than ever before. My hope has been inspired by new clinical trials, new medicines coming down the pipeline and breakthrough discoveries.
I hope new treatments will not only help me, but help the friends I made in support groups and the countless others who are waging their own fights. The tools we are using to fight cancer are getting better and better each day, and can get even better tomorrow.
In some ways, I am lucky — I am able to access and afford the chemotherapeutic and biologic treatments I need. Not everyone is in the same position. Restrictions imposed by health insurance companies have created uncertainty for some fighting cancer about whether they will have access to treatment. These barriers are the last things patients need.
This is why, like many other patients and caregivers, I support smart measures to increase healthcare transparency and rein in drug costs. However, we should be careful not to jeopardize patient access to innovative treatments in the name of transparency.
Senate Bill 17’s goal is to increase transparency by requiring drug companies to give advance notice of future price increases. I am concerned that the legislation will have unintended consequences that could harm patients in the long run, while doing nothing to address the price that California consumers actually pay for medicine.
The regulations in SB17 could severely jeopardize investment in research and development and make discovery of the next wave of innovative treatments harder.
In addition, advance notice of price increases could al- low some unscrupulous wholesalers or distributors to stockpile large quantities of drugs and charge California consumers even higher prices for drugs that treat cancer and other serious conditions.
All Californians support transparency and reduced healthcare costs, but we should take a sensible approach that actually brings down the prices that patients pay for medication and does not discourage investment from those who are trying to find new cures.
Hope inspired by innovation has been a powerful force in my cancer treatment. I respectfully urge the Legislature not to pass legislation that would threaten that hope for others. It may only serve to harm the very people it is trying to help.