In this work, we looked at 4 drugs that have lost patent protection (off-patent drugs) and that have recently shown good additional results for cancer patients in trials. Since new uses of off-patent drugs are not promoted by commercial companies, we investigated whether recommendations for those new uses were integrated into major cancer treatment guidelines. We were shockingly surprised to find out that novel uses of these 4 off-patent drugs rarely spontaneously ended up in treatment guidelines, preventing patients to have access to life-saving treatment options, and calling for immediate action to correct for this bias.

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