--- title: Cancer Doctors Call for Lower Drug Costs description: Doctors join calls to reduce costs of cancer drugs canonical: https://time.com/3970420/cancer-doctors-drug-costs/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-23T22:16:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T09:32:54.281Z article:section: Health og:title: Doctors to Big Pharma: Cut Cancer Drug Costs og:description: Doctors join calls to reduce costs of cancer drugs og:url: https://time.com/3970420/cancer-doctors-drug-costs/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7d5af1d20ccaf103/69885c410b72e331ce6e5105/medicine-and-money.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Stethoscope checking hand holding dollar coins og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Doctors to Big Pharma: Cut Cancer Drug Costs twitter:description: Doctors join calls to reduce costs of cancer drugs twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7d5af1d20ccaf103/69885c410b72e331ce6e5105/medicine-and-money.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Top Cancer Doctors Call for Lower Drug Costs by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jul 23, 2015 10:16 PM UTC  Stethoscope checking hand holding dollar coins Stethoscope checking hand holding dollar coinsGetty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jul 23, 2015 10:16 PM UTC A group of cancer doctors are joining grassroots organizers and politicians in pleading with pharmaceutical companies to reduce the cost of cancer treatments. In an editorial that ran Thursday in the _Mayo Clinic Proceedings_[ journal](http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/pb/assets/raw/Health%20Advance/journals/jmcp/jmcp%5Fpr90%5F7%5F5.pdf), 118 cancer experts produced a series of recommendations they say would lead to a reduction in treatment expenses. The doctors say that one in three individuals will be burdened with cancer in their lifetime, but out-of-pocket drug costs could easily exceed the average household income of an insured patient. Four doses of one particular cancer drug, according to a report published in [_Mayo Clinic Proceedings_](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3538397/) in 2012, costs a staggering $120,000. “It’s time for patients and their physicians to call for change,” said Dr. Ayalew Tefferi, a Mayo Clinic hematologist in a press release. Among the recommendations are allowing Medicare to negotiate prices, permitting cancer drug imports for individual patients, and passing laws to keep drug companies from delaying access to generic drugs. The physician’s recommendations come on the heels of a [change.org](https://www.change.org/p/secretary-of-health-and-human-services-protest-high-cancer-drug-prices-so-all-patients-with-cancer-have-access-to-affordable-drugs-to-save-their-lives?recruiter=239495071&utm%5Fsource=share%5Fpetition&utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fcampaign=share%5Femail%5Fresponsive) petition led by patients that calls for a reduction in drug costs, particularly for cancer patients. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3970420/cancer-doctors-drug-costs/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3970420/cancer-doctors-drug-costs/"},"headline":"Top Cancer Doctors Call for Lower Drug Costs","datePublished":"2015-07-23T22:16:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T09:32:54.281Z","description":"“It’s time for patients and their physicians to call for change\"","url":"https://time.com/3970420/cancer-doctors-drug-costs/","keywords":["Cancer","Health Care","Drugs"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7d5af1d20ccaf103/69885c410b72e331ce6e5105/medicine-and-money.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7d5af1d20ccaf103/69885c410b72e331ce6e5105/medicine-and-money.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Stethoscope checking hand holding dollar coins","caption":"Stethoscope checking hand holding dollar coins","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/cancer/","name":"Cancer"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3970420/cancer-doctors-drug-costs/","name":"Top Cancer Doctors Call for Lower Drug Costs"}}]}] ```