2 May 2016 -The $10,000-a-month cancer drug has become the new normal, to the dismay of physicians and patients who increasingly face the burden of financial toxicity.

A pair of new studies illustrates just how recently that pricing model has come into vogue and pulls back the curtain on the strange market forces that push prices steadily higher in the years after the treatments are launched.

The first study, published in JAMA Oncology, examined 32 cancer medications given in pill form and found that their initial launch list prices have steadily increased over the years -- even after adjusting for inflation. The average monthly amount insurers and patients paid for a new cancer drug was less than $2,000 in the year 2000, but soared to $11,325 in 2014.

For more details, go to: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/05/02/the-inexplicable-and-relentless-rise-of-cancer-drug-prices/