Metronomics: Potential social impact and new business models to improve availability of cancer treatments

Abstract

Over the last 15 years, metronomic chemotherapy (MC) alone or combined with drug repositioning (DR) has gradually gained interest from cancer researchers and clinicians. Metronomics, the combination of MC and DR, can provide inexpensive, easy to administer and non-toxic treatments for cancer patients, while introducing innovative mechanisms of anti-tumour action. In this article, we explore how the use of metronomics can deliver important social gain by allowing to treat patients for whom therapeutic options would be otherwise limited or absent. Thus, patients living in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) can benefit from metronomics to the same extent as patients living in high-income countries (HICs). In both settings, frail patients can also take advantage of the low toxicity associated with metronomics. Here, we focus on new business models that could help in bridging the gap between LMICs and HICs with regard to anticancer treatments through the use of metronomics. In particular, we analyse the principles explaining how business model innovation can make cancer therapies available and affordable to patients with limited resources. Overall, we argue that new business models are essential to the optimal development of metronomics and the combination of business model innovation with metronomics can help fight cancer in LMICs.