It’s Time to
Stop Paying for
Drug Wastage
Some doctors charge patients for entire vials
of medicine, even when only a small amount is used.
That’s waste.
Drug Wastage
What if every time you got gas, you were charged for a full tank
when you only pumped a few gallons?
That happens in healthcare every day.
A study of cancer-specific drugs found that private payers spent nearly $44,000 per patient for cancer treatment, of which 11.6% went to discarded drugs.1
Some Doctors charge patients for entire vials of medicine even when only a small amount is used.
That’s waste — and it’s driving up healthcare prices for everyone.
It’s costing America over $1 BILLION every year.
A study estimated that oversized single-dose vials of cancer drugs result in approximately $1.8 billion in waste annually in the United States.2
Drug Wastage Is a Problem — With a Clear Solution
Cancer drug doses and treatments are largely based on body size. What’s required for one patient’s cancer won’t be the same for a smaller patient. So, when it comes to oncological treatments, one size literally does not fit all — yet that’s not how drugs are sold.
Vials of cancer treatments are manufactured to hold a larger dose than what most patients require, resulting in large amounts of unused cancer drugs getting thrown out. The cost of that one-size-fits-all approach? $1.8 billion annually.2
In 2019, Mayo Clinic initiated a program to round doses to the nearest vial size. Within six months, they saved 9,814 drug vials and successfully saved $7.2 million.3
What’s holding America back?
Over the course of this year, America will likely spend almost $300 billion on oncology drugs.4 Thanks to limited vial sizes, cancer drugs often go wasted because not every patient needs the full amount in a vial. This led to $779 million in drug waste in 2021 and the problem persists today.5 Drug waste for cancer treatments leads to billions of dollars in avoidable healthcare spending.
The average multiple myeloma patient receives 2.5 milligrams of drug treatment. A full vial contains 3.5 milligrams — yet the patient is charged for the full cost of the vial which can be around $1,000. So, who is charged for the unused milligram? The federal government pays for the waste. On top of that, Medicare beneficiaries might pay a 20% copayment as well.6
This financial burden is not only unnecessary, but also nonsensical. It’s time for America to do something about it.