🔺The cost of chemotherapy has increased 10-fold; patients are under the burden of a new wave of drug price hikes ◾A new wave of drug price hikes in Iran has once again pushed the cost of treatment directly onto patients; in one reported example, the cost of each chemotherapy cycle has risen from about 7 million tomans two years ago to nearly 70 million tomans. ◾As reported by Donyaye Eqtesad, increases in the exchange rate, a jump in production costs, and inefficiencies in insurance coverage have triggered a fresh wave of drug price hikes, affecting everything from widely used and generic medicines to specialized drugs and patients with specific conditions. ◾According to this report, insurers have not increased their obligations in proportion to the rise in drug prices; as a result, the gap between the new drug prices and the insurance coverage cap is paid directly out of patients’ own pockets.