The Australian Melanoma Research Foundation says federal funding for skin cancer treatment could be better targeted.
It says about 1,500 people annually die due to melanoma and 17,000 new cases annually are forecast by 2020.
Foundation research director Brendon Coventry says most cancer treatments are extremely expensive and can fail to deliver great benefits.
A House of Representatives health committee is holding a public hearing in Adelaide.
Associate Professor Coventry is urging the Government to ensure more money is directed into research on the most cost-effective melanoma treatments.
“We’ve got to start taking the leads from some of the research that’s gone before us and particularly trying other techniques to try and design treatments that are more cost-effective and also treatments that have much lower toxicity,” he said.
“We are facing a really serious budgetary situation with the treatment of disease across the spectrum but particularly with the treatment of cancer, and melanoma is one example of where the cost is blowing out to levels not sustainable into the future.”
Source: ABC