Racial and gender disparities in the effect of new drug approvals on U.S. cancer mortality

Objective: To investigate whether there were racial and gender disparities in the effect of new drug approvals on U.S. cancer mortality since 1990. Study design: We estimate two-way (by cancer site and year (1990–2019)) fixed-effects models of the age-adjusted mortality rate for four race...

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Main Author: Frank Lichtenberg
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Academia.edu Journals 2024-02-01
Series:Academia Medicine
Online Access:https://www.academia.edu/115600095/Racial_and_gender_disparities_in_the_effect_of_new_drug_approvals_on_U_S_cancer_mortality
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author Frank Lichtenberg
author_facet Frank Lichtenberg
author_sort Frank Lichtenberg
collection DOAJ
description Objective: To investigate whether there were racial and gender disparities in the effect of new drug approvals on U.S. cancer mortality since 1990. Study design: We estimate two-way (by cancer site and year (1990–2019)) fixed-effects models of the age-adjusted mortality rate for four race/sex groups: white males, white females, black males, and black females. The main explanatory variables of the models are distributed lags of the number of drugs approved for a cancer site. We control for the current and lagged age-adjusted incidence rate. Principal findings: For all four demographic groups, the age-adjusted mortality rate is significantly inversely related to either the number of drugs approved 0–5 years earlier, the number of drugs approved 6–10 years earlier, or both. The approval of one additional drug for a cancer site reduced the mortality rate of white males and black males by about 2% and 1%, respectively, controlling for lagged incidence. The approval of one additional drug for a cancer site 6–10 years earlier reduced the black female mortality rate by about 1.3–58% as much as it reduced the white female mortality rate (2.2%). Conclusions: Some demographic groups may have had greater access to new cancer drugs than other groups. Some cancer drug innovations for certain sites have been shown to be more effective for some groups than for others. Also, there may be racial differences in rates of usage of some drugs for some cancers due to racial differences in levels of trust of biomedical/drug institutions.
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spelling doaj-art-6f1e0e70c6294786883c041aabd476b22025-02-10T22:29:58ZengAcademia.edu JournalsAcademia Medicine2994-435X2024-02-011110.20935/AcadMed6191Racial and gender disparities in the effect of new drug approvals on U.S. cancer mortalityFrank Lichtenberg0Graduate School of Business, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA. Objective: To investigate whether there were racial and gender disparities in the effect of new drug approvals on U.S. cancer mortality since 1990. Study design: We estimate two-way (by cancer site and year (1990–2019)) fixed-effects models of the age-adjusted mortality rate for four race/sex groups: white males, white females, black males, and black females. The main explanatory variables of the models are distributed lags of the number of drugs approved for a cancer site. We control for the current and lagged age-adjusted incidence rate. Principal findings: For all four demographic groups, the age-adjusted mortality rate is significantly inversely related to either the number of drugs approved 0–5 years earlier, the number of drugs approved 6–10 years earlier, or both. The approval of one additional drug for a cancer site reduced the mortality rate of white males and black males by about 2% and 1%, respectively, controlling for lagged incidence. The approval of one additional drug for a cancer site 6–10 years earlier reduced the black female mortality rate by about 1.3–58% as much as it reduced the white female mortality rate (2.2%). Conclusions: Some demographic groups may have had greater access to new cancer drugs than other groups. Some cancer drug innovations for certain sites have been shown to be more effective for some groups than for others. Also, there may be racial differences in rates of usage of some drugs for some cancers due to racial differences in levels of trust of biomedical/drug institutions.https://www.academia.edu/115600095/Racial_and_gender_disparities_in_the_effect_of_new_drug_approvals_on_U_S_cancer_mortality
spellingShingle Frank Lichtenberg
Racial and gender disparities in the effect of new drug approvals on U.S. cancer mortality
Academia Medicine
title Racial and gender disparities in the effect of new drug approvals on U.S. cancer mortality
title_full Racial and gender disparities in the effect of new drug approvals on U.S. cancer mortality
title_fullStr Racial and gender disparities in the effect of new drug approvals on U.S. cancer mortality
title_full_unstemmed Racial and gender disparities in the effect of new drug approvals on U.S. cancer mortality
title_short Racial and gender disparities in the effect of new drug approvals on U.S. cancer mortality
title_sort racial and gender disparities in the effect of new drug approvals on u s cancer mortality
url https://www.academia.edu/115600095/Racial_and_gender_disparities_in_the_effect_of_new_drug_approvals_on_U_S_cancer_mortality
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