What is a life worth? Does it come down to dollars and cents? Should it be measured by quality of life? Should economic burden be considered?

These are not easy questions, but in a November 21 analysis published in JAMA Dermatology, shows that the cost of a treatment that could add one year of progression-free survival for patients with advanced and unresectable melanoma could be about $1.6 million—an amount most payers are willing to pay. These numbers are very high and are well outside the willingness of payers to pay. In the end, it seems to all consistently converge around $1.6 million per unit of improvement.