The Business of Hope
January 28, 2022![Symbolbild Patient Krebs Krebspatient jung](https://static.dw.com/image/49647177_800.webp)
But how reliable are the new drugs?
Pharmaceutical cancer research is in full swing. New products are constantly entering the market, promising patients longer and more pain-free lives. Others even hold out the prospect of a cure. Many of these treatments come to the market via an accelerated process. Often, they are accompanied by talk of major breakthroughs and new strategies: Targeted hormone therapy, antibody therapy, gene therapy.
Spending on cancer drugs has risen by more than 50 percent in recent years - to more than 8.6 billion Euros in 2019. It’s a profitable market for the pharmaceutical industry. But survival rates are not increasing as much as hoped.
"We are in a situation where we have more and more fast-tracked drugs with less and less certainty about the actual benefit. And we're in a situation where we're spending a lot of money on them," says Prof. Wolf-Dieter Ludwig, Chairman of the German Medical Association’s Drug Commission.
So, what is really known about the new cancer drugs? Their side-effects, benefits and potential harm they may cause? How well-researched are they before they come to market? Who controls their usage in practice? This documentary looks for answers.
Sendezeiten:
DW English
THU 03.02.2022 – 01:15 UTC
THU 03.02.2022 – 04:15 UTC
THU 03.02.2022 – 18:15 UTC
FRI 04.02.2022 – 09:15 UTC
SAT 05.02.2022 – 19:15 UTC
SUN 06.02.2022 – 02:15 UTC
Cape Town UTC +2 | Delhi UTC +5,5 | Hong Kong UTC +8
Lagos UTC +1 | Cape Town UTC +2 | Nairobi UTC +3
San Francisco UTC -8 | Edmonton UTC -7 | New York UTC -5
London UTC +0 | Berlin UTC +1 | Moscow UTC +3
DW Deutsch+
FRI 04.02.2022 – 09:15 UTC
Vancouver UTC -8 | New York UTC -5 | Sao Paulo UTC -3