Found an error?
Report now
Oncologist Roger von Moos from the Cantonal Hospital of Graubünden shows that the drug denosumab can be administered much less frequently for bone metastases - without any loss of efficacy.
IMAGO/BSIP
New study data show: The drug denosumab can be administered less frequently for bone metastases - without loss of efficacy and with potential savings.
A study presented at the world's most important cancer congress in Chicago is causing a stir: Oncologist Roger von Moos from the Cantonal Hospital of Graubünden shows that the drug denosumab can be administered significantly less frequently for bone metastases - without any loss of efficacy. This is reported in the SonntagsBlick newspaper.
Until now, patients have received the injection every four weeks. According to the new data, however, one injection every twelve weeks is sufficient. This not only reduces side effects, but also the burden on those affected: in Switzerland, around 5,000 patients would only have to go to hospital four times a year instead of twelve. At the same time, this results in potential annual savings of around CHF 15 million for the healthcare system.
Doctor Roger von Moos and his team examined 1,380 cancer patients from Switzerland, Austria and Germany. Over a period of ten years, some participants received denosumab every four weeks as before, while the others were only treated every twelve weeks.
The result: the less frequent administration showed no negative effects. On the contrary, the patients with the three-month interval even reported fewer side effects.
For von Moos, it is clear that this practice will become "the new standard of care". In Switzerland alone, he sees potential savings of around CHF 15 million per year.
However, the results raise fundamental questions. For example, it remains unclear how many other cancer drugs are currently being used more frequently than necessary. Cancer drugs and immunotherapies generated costs of almost three billion francs in Switzerland in 2024.
One problem lies in the funding of such studies: optimization research is hardly supported by the pharmaceutical industry, as it is not economically attractive. As a result, independent research is considered chronically underfunded, while the number of clinical trials in Switzerland is stagnating.
At the same time, China is greatly expanding its research capacities. "No patient wants to be treated solely on the basis of studies conducted in China," warns Vincent Gruntz, head of the Swiss Cancer Institute, to SonntagsBlick.
