Most Chemotherapy Patients Overestimate The Average Life Extension of Chemotherapy

Executive Summary

• The vast majority of cancer patients accept chemotherapy even though their expected life extension from chemotherapy is lower than what they say they need to accept chemotherapy.

Introduction

How much life extension do cancer patients require to agree to chemotherapy? It turns out there was a study on this topic. However, there is also a significant problem: the expected life exertion from chemotherapy does not meet the minimum threshold of life extension to agree to chemotherapy.

Oncology Drugs Average Less Than Three Months Improvement in Increased Lifespan

A 2017 paper published in JAMA Oncology presented some stunning conclusions. Of sixty-two new oncology drugs approved between 2003 and 2013, only 43 percent offered a survival benefit of three months or longer, 11 percent offered a survival benefit of less than three months, 15 percent had an unknown survival benefit, and 30 percent offered no survival benefit at all.

What Percentage of Chemotherapy Drugs Are Shown to Extend Life?

This question is covered in the following video. The website, Nutrition Facts, is one of the very few that takes a realistic view of chemotherapy effectiveness rather than choosing.

Only 1 in 7 chemotherapy drugs was shown to extend life. That is 14%.

The vast majority of cancer drug approvals don’t do anything to extend life, and this is because the FDA is a front end for drug companies.

The Emperor’s Lack of Clothing

This is from the article Hans Christian Andersen and the Value of New Cancer Treatments.

Just from 2016 to the time of this writing, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved 55 new cancer drugs or indications.

While some drugs have transformed the treatment of some cancers, many produce small incremental improvements in patient outcomes, and there is no clear relationship between the clinical benefits delivered and the prices of drugs at market entry.