Spending on cancer drugs in the U.S. has doubled in the last five years, and will double again

MAY 24, 2018

File this under “Up, up and away!”

Spending on cancer medicines in the U.S. has doubled since 2012, reaching nearly $50 billion last year, thanks to a recent rush of new treatments that were launched at high prices. And this may be only the beginning: Spending is expected to roughly double — to $100 billion — by 2022, or from 12 percent to 15 percent annually, according to a new analysis.