Hospitals to buy cancer drugs collectively to drive costs down

Eight teaching hospitals in the Netherlands are planning to purchase cancer medicines collectively in a bid to cut down the spiralling cost of treatment, reported DutchNews.nl.

• Representative body NFU said the initiative concerned an immunotherapy treatment that currently costs tens of thousands of euros per patient annually.

• Erasmus Medical Centre, one of the participating hospitals, estimated that it spent 180 million euros on medicines last year, compared to 100 million euros the year prior.

• René Bernards, of the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek cancer hospital in Amsterdam, said taking the production of drugs out of the hands of pharmaceutical companies could slash the cost per patient from 100 000 euros per year to around 2000 euros.

• "We can do it in a different and cheaper way and we need to take the initiative," he said.