![Stacie Dusetzina, PhD, is a UNC Lineberger member and assistant professor in the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy and UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health.](https://unclineberger.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/867/2018/10/high-up-front-costs-image2-600x400.jpeg)
October 3, 2016
High up-front costs could delay access to life-saving blood cancer drugs for Medicare patients
In the study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, UNC Lineberger researchers report that nearly a third of a group of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia, and who have federally-funded Medicare health insurance, did not start treatment within six months of diagnosis with any of three targeted drugs that have led to dramatic improvements in survival for the disease.