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The horrible cost of RX
Quick&Dead
Member Posts: 1,466 ✭✭
Wife with diabetic and rheumatoid arthritis got a printout of the RX cost from her health insurance company for the past 9 months.
I nearly fell out of my chair!!!
The amount for 9 months is over $77,660.
The most expensive were, in round numbers:
Novolog................$ 7,500
Lyrica..................$ 5,800
Leflunomide..........$ 1,700
Victoza................$ 7,100
Levemir...............$ 9,600
Humira...............$44,800
The others were about $300 or less.
Prescription drugs are far to expensive and big pharma is loving the money. :twisted:
I nearly fell out of my chair!!!
The amount for 9 months is over $77,660.
The most expensive were, in round numbers:
Novolog................$ 7,500
Lyrica..................$ 5,800
Leflunomide..........$ 1,700
Victoza................$ 7,100
Levemir...............$ 9,600
Humira...............$44,800
The others were about $300 or less.
Prescription drugs are far to expensive and big pharma is loving the money. :twisted:
The government has no rights. Only the people have rights which empowers the government.
We have enough gun laws, what we need is IDIOT control.
Blood makes you related. Loyalty makes you family.
I thought getting old would take longer. :shock:
We have enough gun laws, what we need is IDIOT control.
Blood makes you related. Loyalty makes you family.
I thought getting old would take longer. :shock:
Comments
Feel free to explain to this Gentleman, how this is only "Capitalism."
But yet it is "Ignorance on Display." Got it.
Feel free to expound.
Yes, that all sounds incredibly fair. If you own stock in those Companies.
Like the drug peddlers. The aim is not to cure problems. Keeping folks diseased and the country in disarray is good for re elections thru kaos. While CEO's and senators get rich. We the people get the shaft.
The terrible costs of RX is a shame. Pray for redemption. Vote for change.
I stopped all medications and I gave up doctors entirely.
If I sound bitter...it is only because I am.
I stopped all medications and I gave up doctors entirely.
If I sound bitter...it is only because I am.
Seems to be available thru amazon, or at cvs.....?
Capitalism operates under the law of supply and demand.
The pharmaceutical industry is a government manipulated market and is not truly a capitalistic situation for a number of obvious reasons.
That said, the act of charging what the marker will bear to maximize profits is how corporations are supposed to operate. This is what these companies are doing. Most have unique products, many under patent protection, and they charge a price that they believe will maximize their profits. Nothing evil about that in any other industry.
But health care is different.
Why?
There are some of these patent protected drugs that are the best solution for particular problems. They are not the only solution in almost all cases, but they are the best. In every other industry, people pay more for the best if they can afford it and want to pay for it. We all do not live in $ 10 million dollar homes with a $ 5 million dollar boat at our private dock, for example.
But health care is different.
Why?
Pharmaceutical companies spend billions to bring a drug to market before they realize a dime of return on that investment. In other industries, this money is recouped by charging much more than the incremental cost of production for each sale. Boeing and Airbus each spent billions developing the 787 and the A380 respectively, knowing they would show a profit until a certain number of jets were sold. Each jet therefore was sold for millions over the incremental production cost. These companies could not survive doing anything differently.
But health care is different.
Why?
Lastly, pharmaceutical companies sell product through distributors to end customers who buy them by choice. Whenever a certain drug can be even remotely tied to an unexplained hang-nail, it seem most of these customers will jump into a class action lawsuit to punish the company for developing a product.
Drug companies, however, seem to be expected to charge less for their product than they can because of some loyalty or largess to the end customer even when that end customer will turn around and stab them in back on the flimsiest of connections. Look at the talcum powder debacle, for example.
In such a hostile environment, other industries build this into the price of the product and move on.
But health care is different.
Why?
Brad Steele
If I were Trump, I'd call Norman E. Sharpless, MD, acting commissioner of the FDA, into my office & say, "Ned, I want you to issue a new regulation saying that after 20 years, the patent on every drug expires & anyone can make that drug as a generic. If the drug company can improve the drug, they start from the beginning & get a new drug approval.
Is research expensive? Yes. But, drug companies spend more on advertising than they do on research.
No more excuses.
Neal
I have heard the insignificant change statement a number of times.
If the 20 years expires on the original patent, cannot a generic of the original formulation be produced regardless if the developing company teaks that formula? I guess the question would be if it is an extension of a patent or if it is a new patent.
I spent a little time trying to find an answer, but came up with nothing.
Brad Steele
Life is precious and has no price.
Medicine ain't free.
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
The platinum and lanthinide based chemotherapy regimens - administered through direct infusion unusually via a port or dedicated pic line...
The fda requires starting with a virgin source of platinum with a high refinement purity - and apparently starting with raw pre dedicated to a single use and with a high specific refinement point is not only laborious and time consuming it's also expensive - something like 5 times the going rate for an ounce of platinum on the open market...
The Swiss came up with a method to use recycled platinum and remove any impurities that is both quicker to manufacture and cheaper to make - cutting the cost by 75%...
It's been approved and in use in Europe for over a decade and long running studies show little if any deviation of outcome or long term adverse side effects over the method used in the united states...
And to make it worse the Swiss used a recycling technique invented in the united states that allows the platinum in used scrapped catalytic converter to be recovered cheaply and without impurities in an environmental safe process - the American who invented it made a fortune and leases the rights to the process...
But the fda has not and will not approve this method - sighting oversight issues and quality control factors - patent issues and lobby activity tie things up...
Their is a chronic shortage of this stuff and they triage dispensing it and availability is limited...
The cost of this treatment in the US is beyond ridiculous - Canada and Mexico has adopted the European / Swiss regulatory standards but we do not.
We have more catalytic converters sitting in sweatpants that the rest of the world combined - and we can now recover the platinum and make a profit - we can remove any impurity...
But we don't.
And if I may be allowed an impertinent question???
How do pharmaceutical companies outside of the united states produce cheaper effective meds in large quantity and stay in business - if the financial model claims of the big US companies are true than those companies outside of the US should be bankrupt...
And I point to the epee pen scandal - price gouging episode as an example of avarice and greed and immoral behavior...
I hear and understand the cogent arguments and salient points of debate you have made - but I still believe the system is fundamentally flawed and broken.
Mike
Absolutely Scintillating.
I am shocked!
Shocked I tell you.
I agree except that I?d worry about the quality from Mexico. Canada, maybe... But meds from Mexico? I?d worry...
I agree that our current system has big problems, and that there are individuals and companies that act out of greed and in what most of us would deem an immoral manner. I am just not yet convinced as most seem to be that this is the rule and not the exception.
What would be worse, IMO, would be a system whereby a government entity sets pricing for the products that a company develops. One report stated that the average cost to bring a new drug to market in 2015 was $ 2.56 Billion dollars. How do we fix a system that has this extreme upfront cost without either significant reward for that expense without reducing the incentive to undertake the effort?
The Epipen issue is a good example. That little sleazeball raised the price because he knew that the entry costs to develop a competitive product made it highly unlikely for a competitor to dot it. Much of these entry costs are the result of FDA regulation and requirement. So in a very real way our government contributes greatly to the not only the cost of drug development, but through that cost contribution, reduces competitive pressures that may otherwise drive the pricing down.
The reward has associated with the development of a new drug has to justify the risk of the capital investment or (obviously) that investment will dry up.
Brad Steele
Very well stated Sir.
I concur/agree.
It only costs pennies to settle even some of the biggest lawsuits, Boeing isn't happy about the plane issues, but Exxon recovered from the spill Etc. Etc.
Bankruptcy is always another option the management gets paid, hell the last big one they even got bonuses from a bankrupt company!
Blame society, blame lawyers, blame politicians, blame capitalism, blame greedy execs of Pharm companies, blame people for unhealthy living habits, blame God if you want, but don't expect a major change LOL.
I imagine if you are poor enough Uncle Sam takes good care of you through Medicaid, if you have a good job (fewer today) with healthcare or a Government job you are covered, if you are rich you are covered, but a self employed painter or something like that with some assets might just end up owing a zillion dollars, getting a judgement against them and losing their assets.
Too bad.
There are several excellent generic drug manufacturers in the US. However, many international companies use a huge company in India; I suspect that they don't pay the workers much.
Neal
EDIT: It gets complicated. The original manufacturer may file a challenge against a generic manufacturer with the FDA, & the legal costs may exceed potential profits. Insulin was developed in 1922, but it's only produced by 3 companies: Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, & Sanofi. Prices have risen dramatically in recent years. But, the potential profit isn't large enough for a new company to try to compete.
The US Congress could pass a law giving the FDA authority to issue price controls (like most other countries), but it's not in their financial interest.
If this is the case, can generic manufactures produce and sell the original formulation?
It seems the original formulation would no longer be patent protected.
Brad Steele
Ssshhh, ...............................have you not been listening to Barz and Don Mc?
It is all "Capitalism."
They make very little money. (Barely scratching by, from what I hear.)
Sorry Brother.
From what I have heard/been led to believe, "it is all Capitalism."
Yes Brother.
CEO's etc of these financially troubled Companies only deserve multi-million dollar compensations. Walk away clauses, Golden Parachutes, stock options, etc.
Barely making it companies, (laughable,) "Profit statements," ("14%") who believes that Sheeit?
Not me.
If you refuse to believe anything that does not fit your preconceived beliefs, what is the point of even discussing anything?
Cannot imagine living in that bubble.
These are public companies. You can look at their financial statements.
Brad Steele
I believe things that meet the Common Sense dictum.
You can believe any "financial statements" you wish. It does not make it True.
Believing that Drug Companies make 14% profit, is almost laughable to me. If you believe that, good for you.
Why can't they make their products even more addictive and offer candy and fruit flavors...
Why can't they advertise on television especially during children's programming and cartoons...
Why is their product prohibitively taxed - why is it so hard to buy a pack - why can't they use be fine machines...
I mean it's a legal product made by a publicly traded company...
Sigh.
Mike
Certainily applies here.
YVMD.
Without the health insurance at her workplace, would never be able to afford the Rx let alone the Dr. visits, etc.
We have enough gun laws, what we need is IDIOT control.
Blood makes you related. Loyalty makes you family.
I thought getting old would take longer. :shock:
When it comes to life & death of a loved one, who cares if a person was saved because he\she found a cure illegally.
I will say it one more time. Let us import the SAME meds they sell to other countries for FAR less. There is absolutely no reason we should be subsidizing the cost of research for the ENTIRE WORLD.