New access to clinical trials for cancer patients now available
By Yvonne Wenger
COLUMBIA — An untold number of cancer patients will now have clinical trial treatments paid for by their insurance companies, under a new voluntary agreement that was five years in the making.
Legislators on Tuesday joined members of the South Carolina Cancer Alliance, insurance companies representatives and officials from the Hollings Cancer Center at Medical University of South Carolina for the announcement at the Statehouse.
Rep. Anne Peterson Hutto, D-Charleston, said the agreement will help speed the development of new cancer treatments by expanding the number of people who can take part in clinical trials.
There are 100,000 people in South Carolina who live with cancer. About 12-13 percent of the cancer patients at MUSC are treated in clinical trials, but nationally just 3-5 percent of cancer patients are in clinical trials, said Terri Matson, director of the Clinical Trials Office at the Hollings Cancer Center.
In South Carolina, 22,000 individuals are diagnosed with cancer each year.
Thirty-one states have similar agreements, either developed voluntarily or through legislative directive. Hutto was a sponsor on a bill that would have required the agreement from insurance companies, if they hadn’t reached it voluntarily.
Members of the S.C. Alliance of Health Plans are participating in the agreement, including BlueCross BlueShield, BlueChoice, Carolina Care Plan and UnitedHealthcare of the Carolinas.
Cancer patients across the state can speak to their physicians to find out more about clinical trials in their area, in addition to the treatment options available at MUSC, Matson said.
Prior to the agreement, cancer patients that were denied insurance coverage for the clinical trials mostly either paid for them out of pocket or chose to forego the treatment. Matson said appealing an insurance company decision was often a 3-4 week ordeal, and many cancer patients didn’t have the time to wait.
Read more in Wednesday’s editions of The Post and Courier.
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