New phases of cancer treatment are arriving, and have the attention of doctors, patients, the FDA and Wall Street. Trial lawyers, risk managers and insurers might think of these new treatments in other terms, such as the costs of future medical care and reasonable Medicare set asides for future treatments.
One new group of treatments focuses on fine-tuning the immune system, as opposed to simply killing cancer cells with toxic chemo. A basic science view is here. A Wall Street view is here. A 2012 Federal Register entry addresses Medicare set asides in general. Projecting future expense is a growing business. But one wonders how many people really are competent to assess the future course of treatment – and expense – for The Emperor of All Maladies (a great book that became a Pulitzer Prize winner and best-seller on NYT lists; the author also is visible online at places such as here). The book is about to become the focus of a major PBS production overseen by star film-maker Ken Burns.