{"id":{"repo_id":"cape-town","oai_identifier":"oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/5959"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/cape-town/oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/5959","repository":{"repo_id":"cape-town","name":"University of Cape Town","base_url":"https://open.uct.ac.za/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Can Medicare afford to pay for oral chemotherapy drugs? : an evaluation of the problem and introduction of a model to estimate cost","abstract":"Recently, effective oral cancer drugs are gaining prominence. This trend toward oral chemotherapy has important economic implications: the Medicare system of the United States pays for all intravenous (IV) chemotherapy, but it covers only those oral drugs that have an equivalent IV formulation approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The majority of oral cancer drugs in the cancer pipeline do not have such an IV equivalent. There are two proposals before the United States Congress to expand the Medicare program to cover all oral cancer drugs. Gefitinib (Iressa; AstraZeneca) is one of the most interesting of the cohort of novel, targeted oral cancer drugs. Already approved in Japan, it is currently under review by the U.S. FDA. This drug has relatively modest efficacy and few side effects; but it is likely to be expensive. Because the sponsor is seeking approval for the treatment of lung cancer, with a large annual incidence, the economic implications of an FDA approval for gefitinib have raised considerable concern.","abstract_html":"Recently, effective oral cancer drugs are gaining prominence. This trend toward oral chemotherapy has important economic implications: the Medicare system of the United States pays for all intravenous (IV) chemotherapy, but it covers only those oral drugs that have an equivalent IV formulation approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The majority of oral cancer drugs in the cancer pipeline do not have such an IV equivalent. There are two proposals before the United States Congress to expand the Medicare program to cover all oral cancer drugs. Gefitinib (Iressa; AstraZeneca) is one of the most interesting of the cohort of novel, targeted oral cancer drugs. Already approved in Japan, it is currently under review by the U.S. FDA. This drug has relatively modest efficacy and few side effects; but it is likely to be expensive. Because the sponsor is seeking approval for the treatment of lung cancer, with a large annual incidence, the economic implications of an FDA approval for gefitinib have raised considerable concern.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Roberts, Thomas Gerald"],"institution":"Department of Sociology","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2003,"date_issued":"2003","date_published":"2003","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:22:37Z","subjects":[],"languages":["eng"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/11427/5959","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Roberts, Thomas Gerald"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2014-08-02T07:32:06Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2014-08-02T07:32:06Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2003"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.department","label":"Dc Publisher Department","values":["Department of Sociology"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["University of Cape Town"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Master Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["Masters"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["MSocSc"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["eng"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/11427/5959"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Includes bibliographical references."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Recently, effective oral cancer drugs are gaining prominence. This trend toward oral chemotherapy has important economic implications: the Medicare system of the United States pays for all intravenous (IV) chemotherapy, but it covers only those oral drugs that have an equivalent IV formulation approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The majority of oral cancer drugs in the cancer pipeline do not have such an IV equivalent. There are two proposals before the United States Congress to expand the Medicare program to cover all oral cancer drugs. Gefitinib (Iressa; AstraZeneca) is one of the most interesting of the cohort of novel, targeted oral cancer drugs. Already approved in Japan, it is currently under review by the U.S. FDA. This drug has relatively modest efficacy and few side effects; but it is likely to be expensive. Because the sponsor is seeking approval for the treatment of lung cancer, with a large annual incidence, the economic implications of an FDA approval for gefitinib have raised considerable concern."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Can Medicare afford to pay for oral chemotherapy drugs? : an evaluation of the problem and introduction of a model to estimate cost"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Roberts, Thomas Gerald"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2014-08-02T07:32:06Z"],"dc:date.available":["2014-08-02T07:32:06Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2003"],"dc:description":["Includes bibliographical references."],"dc:description.abstract":["Recently, effective oral cancer drugs are gaining prominence. This trend toward oral chemotherapy has important economic implications: the Medicare system of the United States pays for all intravenous (IV) chemotherapy, but it covers only those oral drugs that have an equivalent IV formulation approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The majority of oral cancer drugs in the cancer pipeline do not have such an IV equivalent. There are two proposals before the United States Congress to expand the Medicare program to cover all oral cancer drugs. Gefitinib (Iressa; AstraZeneca) is one of the most interesting of the cohort of novel, targeted oral cancer drugs. Already approved in Japan, it is currently under review by the U.S. FDA. This drug has relatively modest efficacy and few side effects; but it is likely to be expensive. Because the sponsor is seeking approval for the treatment of lung cancer, with a large annual incidence, the economic implications of an FDA approval for gefitinib have raised considerable concern."],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/11427/5959"],"dc:language.iso":["eng"],"dc:publisher.department":["Department of Sociology"],"dc:publisher.institution":["University of Cape Town"],"dc:title":["Can Medicare afford to pay for oral chemotherapy drugs? : an evaluation of the problem and introduction of a model to estimate cost"],"dc:type":["Master Thesis"],"dc:type.qualificationlevel":["Masters"],"dc:type.qualificationname":["MSocSc"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:22:37Z"}