Breast Cancer Drugs Are More Expensive in the 7th Congressional District in Maryland than in Foreign Countries I. Breast Cancer Treatment and Incidence Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer for women in the United States. In 2000, approximately 180,000 women in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer, and over 40,000 will die. Over the course of a lifetime, one in eight women in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer. In Maryland, an estimated 3,700 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, and 800 will die from the disease. Initial therapy for breast cancer usually requires surgical removal of the tumor.
Chemotherapy drugs kill cancer cells directly.
Hormonal drugs function by curtailing the production of or blocking the effects of estrogen, a natural hormone that can accelerate the growth of breast tumors. The breast cancer drugs used in adjuvant therapy are expensive, especially the drugs used in hormonal therapies. The costs are particularly high when patients are prescribed drugs in combination and directed to take the drugs over extended periods of time. Typical hormonal therapies are taken daily for up to five years. Many women with breast cancer do not have prescription drug coverage to pay their drug expenses.