Opioid Therapy Overuse in Cancer Survivors
An abstract presented at AMCP Nexus 2025 showed the overuse of opioids following successful cancer treatment is detrimental to patient health and expensive.
Opioid therapy overuse in disease-free cancer survivors is cost inefficient and negatively impacts quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), when compared to rapid low-dose discontinuation of opioid therapy in cancer survivors.
Research Findings
The abstract, titled ‘Cost-inefficiency of high-dose opioids therapy in disease-free cancer survivors: A real-world, US payer-perspective decision-tree analysis,’ was led by Albert Truong, Pharm.D., from Virginia Commonwealth University, Vasco Pontinha Ph.D., and David Holdford, Ph.D., both from the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Pharmacy.
- Opioid overuse cost $41,072
- Rapid low-dose discontinuation cost only $34,223
No direct quote available in the text.
Author's summary: Opioid overuse in cancer survivors is costly.