Top cancer doc takes to social media to fight rising prices

Print 01 December 2015
Emily Wasserman / FiercePharmaMarketing

The drug pricing debate has reached a pinnacle as of late, with lawmakers, presidential hopefuls and payers railing against skyrocketing costs. Back in February, when the noise was more of a dull roar, a top cancer doctor joined the growing chorus of discontent, announcing that he would protest cancer drug prices on social media.

Dr. Hagop Kantarjian, a leading physician at MD Anderson Cancer Center and chair of its leukemia department, said that he would collect stories and signatures from at least one million leukemia patients in an effort to push Congress to allow the government to negotiate pricing.

It wasn't the first time Kantarjian struck back at pharma over pricing. The doc's drug-price fighting resume includes by-lines on op-eds and medical journals. And Kantarjian also convinced 100 doctors to co-sign a commentary in the journal Blood to advocate for lower prices.

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