Clinician participation in CADTH’s pan-Canadian Oncology Drug Review: contribution and impact on cancer drug funding recommendations

In any given week, media headlines publicize the benefits of a new “breakthrough” cancer drug, with patients and clinicians subsequently advocating for its use. Governments, which face the difficult task of deciding how best to allocate limited public resources, must at the same time balance ongoing commitments to provide optimal health care for Canadians and to ensure value for money and the sustainability of the Canadian health care system.

Established by the provincial and territorial ministries of health, the pan-Canadian Oncology Drug Review (pcodr) program operating within the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (cadth) is designed to bring consistency and clarity to the assessment of cancer drugs by looking at clinical and economic evidence, by taking into consideration clinician and patient perspectives, and by using that information to make recommendations to the participating jurisdictions to guide their drug funding decisions.

Read more here.

Analytical studies branch research paper series – health and work in the family: evidence from spouses’ cancer diagnoses

Changes in health status may affect not just the individuals who experience such changes, but also their family members. For example, if the main earner in a family loses his or her ability to generate income due to a health shock, it invariably affects the financial situation of the spouse and other dependants. This study analyzes how one spouse’s cancer diagnosis affects the employment and earnings of the other spouse and (before-tax) total family income using administrative data from Canada.

Read the full report from Stats Canada.

How much does cancer prevention cost?

There are many indicators used in health care to assess the value of a public health intervention, and one frequently-used metric is cost effectiveness. This indicator involves calculating a ratio that measures the balance between cost and health benefits that are not monetized (typically, lives saved).

Read more from Centre of Excellence in Cancer Prevention on Cost effectiveness of cancer prevention interventions.