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Metronomics: Potential Social Impact and New Business Models to Improve Availability of Cancer Treatments

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Metronomic Chemotherapy

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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.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Toulouse, Toulouse Business School, 20, Bd. Lascrosses, 31068, Toulouse, Cedex 7, France

    Yuliya Snihur

  2. Metronomics Global Health Initiative, Marseille, France

    Yuliya Snihur, Eddy Pasquier, Graciela Scharovsky & Nicolas Andre

  3. Tumour Biology and Targeting Program, Children’s Cancer Institute Australia, Lowy Cancer Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Randwick, NSW, Australia

    Eddy Pasquier

  4. Instituto de Genética Experimental, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Santa Fe 3100(2000), Rosario, Argentina

    Graciela Scharovsky

  5. Hematology and Pediatric Oncology Department, La Timone University Hospital of Marseille, Marseille, France

    Nicolas Andre

  6. Faculty of Pharmacy, INSERM UMR 911, Centre de Recherche en Oncologie biologique et Oncopharmacologie, Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France

    Nicolas Andre

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  1. Yuliya Snihur
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  2. Eddy Pasquier
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  3. Graciela Scharovsky
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  4. Nicolas Andre
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Correspondence to Yuliya Snihur .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Pharmacology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

    Guido Bocci

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas, USA

    Giulio Francia

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Snihur, Y., Pasquier, E., Scharovsky, G., Andre, N. (2014). Metronomics: Potential Social Impact and New Business Models to Improve Availability of Cancer Treatments. In: Bocci, G., Francia, G. (eds) Metronomic Chemotherapy. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-43604-2_17

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