That Paradisiacal Day

New gene-based treatments for cancer show immense promise----and have immense costs:

Novartis AG listed its newly approved cell therapy for cancer at $475,000, while Gilead Sciences Inc. priced its rival drug at $373,000.

But the price of the drugs is just the beginning, hospitals and insurers say. Administering these therapies can add hundreds of thousands of dollars to the tab, including lengthy hospital stays and use of other services and medicines.

(WSJ graphic)

The Wall Street Journal estimates that the full cost of these state-of-the-art treatments ranges between $464,000 and $968,000. For rich people and their families there's little question that most, if not all, will opt for the treatment even if success is not guaranteed.

However, many cancer patients either won't have the money or will choose not to diminish their estate by up to a million dollars to extend their lives for an uncertain period.

Cancer newly afflicts over a million Americans each year:

In 2018, an estimated 1,735,350 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in the United States and 609,640 people will die from the disease.

It will be years before the costs will have come down sufficiently to make a dent in the number of cancer deaths. Until then, dear reader, diet, exercise, and get regular check-ups so that you will make it to that paradisiacal day.