Targeted therapy is currently the most effective treatment for advanced kidney cancer. As a physician, the selection of targeted drugs for patients should take into account many factors such as drug efficacy, side effects, the risk level of the tumor’s pathological type and patient comorbidities, all of which are ultimately aimed at achieving individualized treatment, maximizing patient benefit and prolonging patient survival. Among the costs of targeted therapies are the following:
Genetic testing
What is “targeted therapy”? It is mainly from the perspective of tumor driver genes, and there are differences in the targets of each targeted drug. Based on past experience, whether the key tumor driving pathways are altered during targeted therapy will be decisive for efficacy. Therefore, it is most important to perform “genetic testing” before treatment to determine whether specific tumor signaling pathways are present, so as to decide whether targeted drugs are needed and to target them.
The cost of genetic testing can range from thousands to tens of thousands of dollars, depending on the genetic package tested.
Targeted drugs
This is the main cost, and generally targeted drugs are a maintenance drug that should be continued until no longer benefiting from treatment, or until unacceptable adverse effects or death occur.
Pezopanib (trade name: vincristine), the first-line (preferred) treatment for advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma, is a multi-target receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor with VEGFR1-3, PDGFRα-β, and c-KIT as its primary targets. The cost of one month of treatment is about $19,200, and the full 32 boxes for advanced kidney cancer are free until drug resistance.
This is still a discounted drug, and others like sunitinib (Sotan), which originally cost more than $4,300 per bottle, can be taken for a week. The drug is currently covered by health insurance in China and is reimbursed proportionally by type of health insurance. The related charity campaign has ended and there is no free drug campaign, but relatively speaking the drug is covered by health insurance to reduce the burden on patients to some extent.
In addition, other related symptomatic treatments and the treatment of possible toxicities associated with targeted drugs can be costly, depending on the patient’s individual circumstances.
Finally, it is important to note that generic drugs from informal sources, as mentioned in the movie “I am not a druggist”, are available at a good price, but please choose carefully.