$1,000-a-day miracle drug shocks U.S. health care system

[Jimzz]

I suspect the reason the price is so high, in addition to profit, is to cover the cost of future class action lawsuits for damages done by drug. ie, seems like the evening news is half drug commercials and half lawyer commercials to sue drug companies for drugs that came out a few years ago ...

That's because some push drugs out to quickly and many cover up things they find when coming up with them.

A drug maker I worked for got greedy and tried to combine 2 drugs and long story short couple people died, FDA hold, layoffs, and the top people got their gold chutes as they drifted out.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

That's because some push drugs out to quickly and many cover up things they find when coming up with them.

A drug maker I worked for got greedy and tried to combine 2 drugs and long story short couple people died, FDA hold, layoffs, and the top people got their gold chutes as they drifted out.

Sounds like Fenfen. Unfortunately there is a lot of fraud. I came upon an alternative which I think could be an alternative paradigm for drug development, but the Obama administration has pretty much killed it although perversely Bushs' was leaning towards supporting it for expensive medication in abhorrently poor areas of the world.

 

[PingviN]

It's expensive and risky to develop new drugs, so if you have a smash hit on your hands, of course you're gonna try to make the most out of it. The drug really is that good and at the moment, the only real competitor is Medivir's Olysio, which costs $66K and requires Interferon and Ribavarin.

Sovaldi is sold at a highly reduced price in developing countries ($70-130 for 12 weeks), but they have to make their money somewhere and that somewhere is the developed world. Sucks, but still, Gilead's product is awesome, the competition is limited and the demand is high.

The pill probably costs less than a cent to produce, but the research costs are very high. Billions of dollars. Some research end up in excellent drugs, some research goes out with the trash.

 

[jaedaliu]

It is, and I am glad that I am one of the cured. No, I did not use Sovaldi. A load of antibiotics were taken when I was fighting against kidney cancer and after-effects of blood transfusion.

You sure? antibiotics should do nothing against HepC (which is viral.)

 

[manimal]

Yeah that will work great, now the price per day is $1750. $750 in tax, $1000 to the drug company.

Then they get a nice tariff on their other drugs. Its pretty simple and worked for a hundred years till government started bowing to business instead of keeping them on a leash.

Every incentive and punishment scheme is defeat able. That doesnt make them effective.


Are you the kind of guy that argues slippery slope on every topic?

 

[silverpig]

You sure? antibiotics should do nothing against HepC (which is viral.)

Maybe he was immuno-suppressed after the surgery and treatment? Maybe they induced immune-supression so he wouldn't reject the transfused blood and transplanted kidneys?

I'm no doc, so I really have no idea.

 

[Rakehellion]

A cure for hep C, that's pretty amazing.

The old antiviral treatment is about 70% effective in curing it, so there's still that.

 

[Lifted]

Do they offer a refund to the 10% it doesn't cure?

Does it just take longer than 3 months to cure the other 10 percent or are they incurable by this drug?

 

[Rakehellion]

Do they offer a refund to the 10% it doesn't cure?

Sure, just keep paying the full price and If you die, you can fill out an RMA.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Do they offer a refund to the 10% it doesn't cure?

Does it just take longer than 3 months to cure the other 10 percent or are they incurable by this drug?

There is no guarantee in medicine and there can never be. The three month cutoff would be based on a distribution where the cure rate drops off dramatically, and there needs to be an end point. It's somewhat arbitrary but proven for this class of medications. You might have someone somewhere have a positive results after a year, but the costs won't support doing so. Three months is a reasonable limit based on the science.

 

[PingviN]

The old antiviral treatment is about 70% effective in curing it, so there's still that.

It's also a longer treatment that is much less efficient against genotype 1 (most common genotype in US/EU). At $25.000 (Ribavarin + Interferon for 48 weeks), it's cheaper, but cure rates for genotype1 are 40-50% compared with 90% for Sovaldi.

Shorter treatment and fewer side effects as a result of not having to use Interferon, which can be pretty nasty when combined with Ribavarin, but higher price. It's probably not fair to those with HCV, but that what happens when you have a free market.

 

[Thump553]

Dammit, I owned GILD stock for about two years-through failure after failure and mediocre performance. Finally dumped it when it slightly edged past my original purchase price. Looks like I would have made a 50%+ profit if I held on another year.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

It's also a longer treatment that is much less efficient against genotype 1 (most common genotype in US/EU). At $25.000 (Ribavarin + Interferon for 48 weeks), it's cheaper, but cure rates for genotype1 are 40-50% compared with 90% for Sovaldi.

Shorter treatment and fewer side effects as a result of not having to use Interferon, which can be pretty nasty when combined with Ribavarin, but higher price. It's probably not fair to those with HCV, but that what happens when you have a free market.

The "free market" isn't really applicable. No system pays for open ended treatment in all things. UHC here has an almost religious following here where it translates into "free healthcare". No such thing, although there are alternative paradigms that are beyond some limitations that won't be considered. Indeed you don't hear about any.

 

[Ns1]

Dammit, I owned GILD stock for about two years-through failure after failure and mediocre performance. Finally dumped it when it slightly edged past my original purchase price. Looks like I would have made a 50%+ profit if I held on another year.

Oops

 

[halik]

Need to cover development cost, and need to make a profit so that they can fund research on future drugs that can turn a profit after the patent expires.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a cystic fibrosis drug that costs over $300k/year.

Pfizer's patent on Lipitor expired in 2011, and they have nothing to replace the income of the best selling drug in history.

And 20 years, not 15, but close enough.

Err I thought patents are good for 15 years?

edit: apparently design patents are 15, utility are 20

 

[rudder]

Yep. Fuck them, but they do have the right to charge whatever they please. :\

I would agree with you and say let the free market determine prices. but as the article suggested, a lot of the medicines users are ones without the ability to pay. So it becomes the taxpayers burden and since they U.S. government continues to pay the $1000 cost for these people... there is no market pressure to reduce the price.

 

[DrPizza]

It cures Hep C.

Where the hell are the conspiracy nutcases: "derp, big pharma doesn't want cures. Because they make more money on treatments. Derp."

 

[lozina]

I would wait for the generic version which sells for $30 a month.

But seriously, what is the manufacturing cost of this drug?

 

[KeithTalent]

So this is legit? If so, pretty awesome they found a cure for it.

KT

 

[techs]

What if they decided to charge 2,000 a day? Or 3 or 4 or 5?
Would insurance companies have to pay? Or could they deny coverage saying it costs too much?

And, if you don't have drug insurance what happens? Do people sell their homes? Or what about people who have no money at all saved?

 

[techs]

I would wait for the generic version which sells for $30 a month.

But seriously, what is the manufacturing cost of this drug?

Unknown. However, in the past if a drug costs a lot to make the company that makes it will tout that as why they charge a lot. In this case the company apparently hasn't revealed the manufacturing cost, and they don't have to.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

What if they decided to charge 2,000 a day? Or 3 or 4 or 5?
Would insurance companies have to pay? Or could they deny coverage saying it costs too much?

And, if you don't have drug insurance what happens? Do people sell their homes? Or what about people who have no money at all saved?

And what is your solution? Hint, you haven't one.

 

[poofyhairguy]

So basically our plan is to see what Canada can negotiate the price to be, then buy it online?








What I don't get is why new drugs are released first in America anyway. It seems like it makes way more sense to release new drugs into parts of the world where patients have less legal protections, and then only release in America at the very end of the line when the legal liability is minimal and all the kinks are worked out.

 

[techs]

And what is your solution? Hint, you haven't one.

Solution to what?

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

I would wait for the generic version which sells for $30 a month.

But seriously, what is the manufacturing cost of this drug?

That is completely irrelevant, and something I addressed.

Question for you. How much does it cost to make This?