TY  - JOUR
AU  - Sun,Eric C.
AU  - Jena,Anupam B.
AU  - Lakdawalla,Darius N.
AU  - Reyes,Carolina M.
AU  - Philipson,Tomas J.
AU  - Goldman,Dana P.
TI  - An Economic Evaluation of the War on Cancer
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 15574
PY  - 2009
Y2  - December 2009
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15574
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15574.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Eric C. Sun
2940 South Ct
Palo Alto, CA 94306
E-Mail: ericsun@uchicago.edu

Anupam Jena
Department of Health Care Policy
Harvard Medical School
180 Longwood Avenue, Door A
Boston, MA 02115
E-Mail: jena.anupam@mgh.harvard.edu

Darius N. Lakdawalla
Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics
University of Southern California
3335 S. Figueroa St, Unit A
Los Angeles, CA 90089-7273
Tel: 213/740-6012
E-Mail: dlakdawa@healthpolicy.usc.edu

Carolina Reyes
Genentech, Inc.
1 DNA Way
South San Francisco, CA. 94090
E-Mail: reyes.carolina@gene.com

Tomas Philipson
Irving B. Harris Graduate School
of Public Policy Studies
University of Chicago
1155 E. 60th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
Tel: 773/502-7773
E-Mail: t-philipson@uchicago.edu

Dana Goldman
Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics
University of Southern California
3335 S. Figueroa St, Unit A
Los Angeles, CA 90089-7273
Tel: (213) 821-7948
Fax: (213) 740-3460
E-Mail: dana.goldman@usc.edu
AB  - For decades, the US public and private sectors have committed substantial resources towards cancer research, but the societal payoff has not been well-understood.  We quantify the value of recent gains in cancer survival, and analyze the distribution of value among various stakeholders.  Between 1988 and 2000, life expectancy for cancer patients increased by roughly four years, and the average willingness-to-pay for these survival gains was roughly $322,000.  Improvements in cancer survival during this period created 23 million additional life-years and roughly $1.9 trillion of additional social value, implying that the average life-year was worth approximately $82,000 to its recipient.  Health care providers and pharmaceutical companies appropriated 5-19% of this total, with the rest accruing to patients.  The share of value flowing to patients has been rising over time.  These calculations suggest that from the patient's point of view, the rate of return to R&D investments against cancer has been substantial.
ER  -