On June 22 2011 13:01 Sobba wrote: You cant set a price on life. I hope the goverment pays for his pills.
Prices are set on life all the time. American medicare denies treatments on spuius reasons all the time to save costs. 3rd world kids dont get vaccinated because of cost issues. A price is placed on life all the time.
I'm not saying its right but it happens. As you your friend, its a bad situation and I don't know the answer.
I agree with the people saying the best bet is to look outside of Canada, although he's clearly running very low on time. Because of the way economics works, the government can't easily just cover the costs for him, especially since it's 500k a year, and not just a flat price. It's going to take a miracle unfortunately. Best of luck to him.
Sadly this is the side effect of patent laws and costs of research. The good news is hopefully once the patent dies out and generic brands take over, it will be dirt cheap and the next generation will have a better chance =/
Ever think of trying some ancient Chinese herbal remedy? Keep his spirits up as best you can. Humans have adapted to many strange things, and keeping a positive outlook on life seems to help extend life.
Just charge it on a credit card, or ratheri n all seriousness.. Rob them and get the pills. If i was in his situation.. there is nothing i wouldn't do.
For these diseases, there are few if any other treatments. So biotech companies can charge pretty much whatever they want.
Alexion Pharmaceutical's Soliris, at $409,500 a year, is the world's single most expensive drug. This monoclonal antibody drug treats a rare disorder in which the immune system destroys red blood cells at night. The disorder, paroxysymal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), hits 8,000 Americans. Last year Soliris sales were $295 million. Since Alexion started selling Soliris two years ago, its stock price is up 130%.
Maybe try some alternative medicine, seek foreign citizenship, actively seek donations, lobby organizations, get further media attention. I think at this point where he doesn't have too long, you have to anything you can. I'm really sorry for your friend's situation, hope he can find a solution.
I just want to clarify, cause a lot of people think hes on his last legs. He still has a somewhat normal life while he is on this other medication (prescribed steroids to combat inflammation caused by his red blood cells exploding in his body). However being that it is a steroid it causes a lot of Hepatotoxicity so he can not remain on it forever(2 years is what the doctors say is the max time before he starts suffering from serious liver damage which would defeat the purpose of taking the drug) This treatment still isn't ideal for his disease as it comes with a lot of side-effects. So in the next year he needs to find a possible solution because hes already been on steroids for 1 year. hopefully the BC provincial government includes solaris in the budget.
On June 22 2011 14:43 Lowkin wrote: I just want to clarify, cause a lot of people think hes on his last legs. He still has a somewhat normal life while he is on this other medication (prescribed steroids to combat inflammation caused by his red blood cells exploding in his body). However being that it is a steroid it causes a lot of Hepatotoxicity so he can not remain on it forever(2 years is what the doctors say is the max time before he starts suffering from serious liver damage which would defeat the purpose of taking the drug) This treatment still isn't ideal for his disease as it comes with a lot of side-effects. So in the next year he needs to find a possible solution hopefully the BC provincial government includes solaris in the budget.
Do you think that will happen? Best to prepare for the worst.
For these diseases, there are few if any other treatments. So biotech companies can charge pretty much whatever they want.
Alexion Pharmaceutical's Soliris, at $409,500 a year, is the world's single most expensive drug. This monoclonal antibody drug treats a rare disorder in which the immune system destroys red blood cells at night. The disorder, paroxysymal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), hits 8,000 Americans. Last year Soliris sales were $295 million. Since Alexion started selling Soliris two years ago, its stock price is up 130%.
this is fucking disgusting
In their defense they have basically nothing else.
Bare in mind that due to limited patents the company has a short period where they need to raise enough revenue to cover both past and future costs. The don't earn anything until a new drug comes to market.
As for people saying you can't put a price on life. You do, every single day. If you ever get out of bed you are taking a risk, you just don't think about it. You go to work because you have to pay for stuff but this journey entails serious chances of you dying. They may be remote but you do onstensibly put a price on your life. It is just balanced with the probability of you having fatal accident. Something humans are notoriously bad at.
The government is Australia has an effective price of $50,000 AUD per quality life adjusted year. That means that if a drug can give you a standardised quality year for under $50,000 it will be reimbursed. This is not legislated but is the level that has been reached over the past 20 years. Politicians say that there is no set limit on the budget, but in reality there is an effective one. Any decision to fund one drug fundamentally takes money from other potential drugs. There is no way around it.
You can't have everything. You have to make a choice and to do so, you have to effectively put a price to someone's life. These are not easy decisions, but they are the right ones.
I wish medicinal research became open source once a definite cure for a disease became known, this way at least we have some attempt at an imitation cure. I dont rly no how medicine works at all but it seems to be more of a business then a social service....everything is a business...sigh money
On June 22 2011 11:35 Kamais_Ookin wrote: What's the point of a cure if pretty much 99% of the people can't afford it? I understand profits and stuff but come on now...
Unfortunately pharmaceutical companies are businesses too. It costs literally billions of dollars to develop new drugs, and without reimbursement for them research couldn't move forward.
It costs literally billions of dollars to market/advertise for drugs. It is often universities that do the actual work.
On June 22 2011 11:35 Kamais_Ookin wrote: What's the point of a cure if pretty much 99% of the people can't afford it? I understand profits and stuff but come on now...
Unfortunately pharmaceutical companies are businesses too. It costs literally billions of dollars to develop new drugs, and without reimbursement for them research couldn't move forward.
It costs literally billions of dollars to market/advertise for drugs. It is often universities that do the actual work.
Not sure I follow your line of thought here. The expensive part of drug development is the clinical testing. This is normally orchestrated by the company. The monitoring, data collection and analysis is done in house. The actual treatments are done by doctors at hospitals but the institutions are reimbursed very well for this. Have a read.
In 2010, the average cost for bringing a drug to market was $1 billion USD.
You are correct in that universities often complete the mechanism research and provide a lot of direction for early drug development, but the main clinical work is subtantially organised by pharma. Even if the University/Hospitals are running the trials they are still funded by the company. At least this is true for the main registration trials. I know of no company that would outsource their most important trials to an outside institution.
In AUS pharma companies are not allowed to market their drugs and are heavily regulated. It depends on the environment. The US has almost no regulation when it comes to marketing drugs but you can hardly blame pharma companies for seeking whatever edge they can find. The argument goes that a well informed public can make better decisions. If you don't like this, then you need a change in regulations.
On June 22 2011 11:35 Kamais_Ookin wrote: What's the point of a cure if pretty much 99% of the people can't afford it? I understand profits and stuff but come on now...
If that guy was an American and he bought insurance the insurance would cover it. The problem is that the Canadian government won't cover it.
It costs so much because only 8,000 Americans have that disease. It costed 800 million dollars and 15 years to research the drug.
Would he have been able to even get provate insurance? I thought they were allowed to refuse you?
On June 22 2011 11:35 Kamais_Ookin wrote: What's the point of a cure if pretty much 99% of the people can't afford it? I understand profits and stuff but come on now...
If that guy was an American and he bought insurance the insurance would cover it. The problem is that the Canadian government won't cover it.
It costs so much because only 8,000 Americans have that disease. It costed 800 million dollars and 15 years to research the drug.
Would he have been able to even get provate insurance? I thought they were allowed to refuse you?
They can deny you if you have preexisting conditions that they don't like. Oh, and there is no way in hell a private insurance organization would pony up half a million a year on one guy.
EPT
