Breast Cancer Patient Attitudes Towards Oncology Drug Costs in Ireland

Background: Oncology medication costs are increasing internationally; patient attitudes towards these costs remain unclear. Methods: A three-part cross-sectional questionnaire was distributed to patients with breast cancer to determine their attitudes towards oncology medication costs and to explore potential patient-acceptable methods to reduce these costs. Results: A total of 321 patients were eligible for inclusion and 180 fully completed the questionnaire (56.1% response rate). Overall, 67.8% (N = 122/180) of patients found the costs presented in the questionnaire to be unacceptable. 92.2% (N = 166/180), 87.8% (N = 158/180) and 68.9% (N = 124/180) of participants found the costs of pembrolizumab, palbociclib and trastuzumab respectively to be unacceptable. A total of 72.8% (N = 131/180) of patients indicated that they would like to be better informed about the societal costs of their cancer treatment and 81.1% (N = 146/180) of patients believed that reducing the costs of cancer treatment to society is important. There was a statistically significant difference in patient desires to be better informed of societal drug costs between those with early-stage breast cancer and those with metastatic disease (75.8% vs. 47.4%, χ² = 6.923, p = 0.009). Conclusions: These findings indicate that many Irish patients with breast cancer find the societal costs of oncology medications to be unacceptable, and many patients have a desire to be better informed of these costs.