US cancer body unveils method to evaluate treatments

New York

ALARMED by the rapid escalation in the price of cancer drugs, the United States' leading oncology society unveiled on Monday a new way for doctors and patients to evaluate treatments - one that pointedly includes a medicine's cost as well as its effectiveness and side effects.

The release by the American Society of Clinical Oncology of what it calls its "value framework" is part of a change in thinking among doctors, who once largely chose drugs based on their medical attributes alone.