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ByMarilynnMarchione TheAssociatedPress The pushback against soaring cancer drug prices is gaining steam. A leading doctors group on Monday proposed a formula to help patients decide if a med- icine is worth it — what it will cost them and how much good it is likely to do. The move by the Ameri- can Society of Clinical On- cology is the third recent effort to focus on value in cancer care. Two weeks ago, the European Society for Medical Oncology proposed a similar guide. Last week, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York posted an online tool sug- gesting a drug's fair price, based on benefits and side effects. "We have a broken sys- tem" with drug prices ris- ing more than the degree of benefit, said Dr. Peter Bach, director of the Cen- ter for Health Policy and Outcomes at Sloan Ketter- ing. "We hope consumers increasingly think about value." New cancer drugs typ- ically cost more than $10,000 a month, and pa- tients are paying a greater share through higher co- pays and deductibles. "We have extraordinarily expensive technology that we have developed but a lot of it doesn't seem to move the needle that much" in terms of survival, Michael Porter, a Harvard Business School economist, told an audience at the U.S. oncol- ogy group's annual confer- ence last month. Patients often are not fully aware of costs, which include not just the drug but also whether a patient needs to be hospitalized to get it, or to take other drugs to manage side effects, he said. The formula is something doctors can work through with patients to get a bot- tom line on the survival benefit, side effects and costs of a new treatment or combo versus older ones. So far, it's just a proto- type for four situations — lung or prostate cancer that has spread, advanced multi- ple myeloma and a common type of breast cancer. The group will take comments from the public until Aug. 21 and plans similar efforts for other types of cancer. In the formula, treat- ments are given scores for how much they im- prove survival or the time until cancer worsens. For advanced cancers, bo- nus points are given for drugs that greatly relieve symptoms or give pa- tients a break from treat- ment. Side effects also are scored, and the points are combined to get a "net health benefit." The bottom line will mean different things to different patients, said the head of the 24-expert panel that developed the tool, Dr. Lowell Schnipper, can- cer center chief at Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Med- ical Center. For example, a drug may boost survival more than another one, but cause hand numbness that would greatly bother a vio- linist, he said. "There is that kind of tradeoff in much of what we offer patients," so each person needs to judge value for himself, he said. The final step is to com- pare costs. The tool gives drug prices provided by insurer UnitedHealthCare as a guide, but they vary greatly among hospitals, and copays depend on each person's insurance plan. The formula was pub- lished online Monday by the Journal of Clinical On- cology. DOCTORS GROUP Toolproposedtohelpgaugevalueofcancerdrugs ASSOCIATEDPRESSFILEPHOTO Chemotherapy is administered to a cancer patient via intravenous drip at a hospital in Durham, N.C. A leading doctors group, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, announced on Monday that they are proposing a tool to help patients decide how much a drug will cost and how much good it is likely to do. The move is the latest of several recent efforts to focus on value in cancer care. By Tom Murphy The Associated Press Anthem sees its more than $47 billion bid to buy rival Cigna as a way to muscle up on technology that helps consumers and to strengthen its rapidly growing Medicare Advan- tage business. Leaders of the Blue Cross-Blue Shield insurer reaffirmed on Monday their commitment to getting a deal done a day after Cigna shot down the idea in a let- ter delivered to Anthem's board. "We think we've put for- ward a very compelling of- fer," Anthem Chief Finan- cial Officer Wayne DeVeydt said when asked by an ana- lyst during a conference call whether his company would consider raising its price. The Indianapolis in- surer said it has made sev- eral offers to buy Cigna and has been talking with the company about a deal since last summer. The combination would create a health insurer with inter- national reach that covers more than 53 million peo- ple, making it the largest in the United States based on enrollment. Anthem Inc.'s most re- cent offer amounted to $184 per share in cash and stock, which represents a premium of more than 35 percent to the closing price of Cigna shares in late May, before reports of industry merger talks started heat- ing up. But Bloomfield, Connect- icut-based Cigna Corp. said Sunday in a letter to An- them's board that it saw a number of obstacles stand- ing in the way of a deal that "under the right cir- cumstances" would pro- vide substantial benefits to consumers, doctors and investors. Analysts and other ex- perts are expecting consol- idation at the top of a health insurance industry that has had to adjust to the health care overhaul and is deal- ing with slow growth in the biggest piece of its market, employer-sponsored health insurance. They see several poten- tial advantages to a big combination. A larger insurer can gain more leverage and negotiat- ing power to use in hash- ing out rates with care pro- viders. But that advantage may be limited by regula- tors who will seek to make sure the acquiring insurer doesn't gain an unfair ad- vantage in any market. Anthem said the com- bined insurer would have a much broader base over which to spread costs and expenses, and it could make technology investments over the industry's biggest customer pool. Data and technology are playing a growing role in monitoring patients and care. At a very basic level, that means things like tracking whether patients are keeping up with their immunizations. Insurers also are trying to give consumers better in- formation on the cost and quality of the care they buy, based on their coverage. De- ductibles and other out-of- pocket costs have been ris- ing for years. That leaves a growing number of con- sumers with bigger bills to pay before most of their in- surance coverage starts, so it can encourage more to shop around. Anthem officials also noted that a Cigna deal will build their compa- ny's Medicare Advantage enrollment in states like Texas and Florida. Medi- care Advantage plans are privately run, fast-grow- ing versions of the feder- ally-funded program for people over age 65 and the disabled. INSURER Anthem reaffirms commitment to $47 billion bid for Cigna Forpatient'swithmissingteeth,uncomfortable dentures and partials, no teeth, seeking proper chewing, proper function and proper smile. Get Your Smile Back! Dental Implant continuing education for local residents CallandRSVP:530-527-6777 Dr Elloway's Office 2426 South Main St, Red Bluff CA, 96080 Wednesday, June 24 4-7PM Comeandjoinusforaneveningof education, fun, appetizers, and a complimentary consultation. | HEALTH | REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM TUESDAY, JUNE 23, 2015 4 A