Patients cover expenditure on standard care. Typically, government agencies or pharmaceutical companies absorb most of the experimental drug costs.
Government and Industry Funding
With millions of dollars earmarked for clinical cancer treatment studies, the NCI’s 2017 budget was approximately $ 5.3 billion. Private sector financing has begun to dwarf direct government investment in recent years. It also plays an important role in hospitals, universities and other research organizations.
There were 80 clinical trials relating to mesothelioma were listed in the NIH database in the summer of 2017 – each of which can be divided into four categories based on the website’s funding source.
| Funding Sources |
Number of Clinical Trials |
| U.S. Department of Defense |
1 |
| U.S. Institute of National Health |
14 |
| Biomedical and pharmaceutical companies |
30 |
| Cancer Centers, Universities, etc. |
34 |
The cost of clinical trials can also be covered with assistance from private donations. The University of Hawaii Cancer Center, for example, had an anonymous mesothelioma research donor who donated $3.58 million in 2011.
Patient Costs
The costs for participants in clinical trials can also include hospital stays, laboratory tests, transport, scans, visits to doctors, and X-rays.
Depending on the patient’s policy, many of these costs are often covered by health insurance. In certain states health insurance companies are required (by special agreement or law) to pay for the routine care received in a clinical trial. The routine costs associated with all phase II and phase III clinical trials which are sponsored by the government are covered by Medicare for patients over the age of 65.
It is extremely important to talk to the clinical trial sponsor about the costs they will cover. To determine what they will cover, consult your health insurance company.
Factors that determine whether insurance companies pay for the costs of clinical trials include:
Patients have faced numerous obstacles regarding cost – including with transportation. Some patients have had to travel to out-of-state cancer centers which require room and board arrangements. To aid these expenses, many charitable organizations and cancer centers offer grants to patients.
