Price, Availability and Affordability of Anti-Cancer Medicines in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

INTRODUCTION: Cytotoxic drugs are essential treatments available for patients with cancer. There are concerns that unavailability and high prices of cancer medicines may limit patient access. Since information on availability, prices and affordability for cancer medicine is lacking for several countries, particularly for lower income countries like Ethiopia, it will be difficult to know the real situation of those medications' access. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to assess availability, affordability and price of anti-cancer medications, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. METHODS: The study was cross-sectional using a modified form of the WHO/HAI methodology of measuring medicine price, availability and affordability in public, private, Kenema municipal and Red Cross Pharmacies found in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Data on the availability and price of 47 cytotoxic medications for both lowest priced generics and originator brands were collected in 3 public, 6 private and 2 NGO pharmacies which are expected to dispense cytotoxic medications in Addis Ababa. The data were entered and analyzed using WHO/HAI data entry and analysis form. Results were presented in tables and figures. RESULTS: The majority of the anti-cancer medications assessed were not available and the few available medicines were unaffordable. The lowest priced generic were relatively more available (34.8%) than the originator brand medications (2.8%) in the public sector. Generally, the availability of anti-cancer medicine differs when comparing the public, private and other sectors. The availability of cytotoxic medications was 18.8%, 5.3% and 8.8% in the public, private and other sectors. The prices of cytotoxic medications available in the private sector were higher than the public and other sectors. All of the medications except for anastrazole were unaffordable. CONCLUSION: Medicines for cancer treatment are unavailable and the few available medicines are unaffordable in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Different interventions should be done to improve access to cytotoxic medications.