Recently it was announced that the Canadian Cancer Society is advocating more public funding of costly oncology medications, the cost of which has been described as "catastrophic".

This is certainly a noble cause for the CCS to back. While it may be easy or convenient for people to point the finger at big pharma and accuse them of charging too much for these medications, the reality of the situation is an enormous amount of money needs to be funneled into R & D in order to achieve these pharmalogical breakthroughs. Furthermore, some of these medications target very specific types of cancer which can sometimes tend to have small patient populations, thereby making the cost of exponentially higher. So while pharma companies  tend to bear the brunt of the scorn for the high prices associated with these therapies, no one seems to be applauding their efforts in the creation of targeted and effective therapies.

More access should be a positive step in the right direction. Here's hoping progress is made on this front!

Read more:

http://calgary.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100929/cancer-drugs-100929/20100929/?hub=CalgaryHome