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Dec 6th, 2017
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Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 12,129 Likes: 257
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 12,129 Likes: 257 |
I just saw an ad on TV for Harvoni, a new drug that cures most Hepatitis C. This is a real breakthrough for LOTS of people. Then I went on the internet to look up the price. A 12 week treatment costs $94,500!
I am taking Tecfidera (dimethyl fumarate), a drug that costs pennies to make and the patent holder charges $55,000 per year. And this is a drug that MS patients might take for the rest of their lives. Fortunately, my insurance out-of-pocket stops charging me copays at $2500 per year, but Blue Cross is paying the drug company some very high cost for the drug.
And this brings me to a question: Can't some other drug company make my dimethyl fumarate and pay Idec a royalty? Doesn't patent law require patent holders to license their patents to others for reasonable fees? I don't see $50000 per patient per year as a reasonable license fee. Why wouldn't a court agree?
BTW, their markup is wildly inflated, You can get an identical drug in The Netherlans for $1500/year, so there is plenty of markup opportunity. Does our legal system really require patent-holder exclusivity for the length of the patent?
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Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 19,831 Likes: 180
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 19,831 Likes: 180 |
I took a course of Harvoni a few months back. Medicare Part D paid for it. Cost me a total of $6.50 out of pocket. It felt pretty strange swallowing a pill every morning that cost over $1000.00
Good coffee, good weed, and time on my hands...
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Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 12,004 Likes: 133
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 12,004 Likes: 133 |
You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a new model that makes the old model obsolete.
R. Buckminster Fuller
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Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 21,134
Administrator Bionic Scribe
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Administrator Bionic Scribe
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 21,134 |
I currently take a drug that costs $2,600 per month. Fortunately I don't pay that.
Life is a banquet -- and most poor suckers are starving to death -- Auntie Mame
You are born naked and everything else is drag - RuPaul
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Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 19,831 Likes: 180
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 19,831 Likes: 180 |
As far as I know I no longer have Hep C.
Good coffee, good weed, and time on my hands...
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Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 12,004 Likes: 133
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 12,004 Likes: 133 |
Excellent, dude! 
You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a new model that makes the old model obsolete.
R. Buckminster Fuller
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Joined: May 2005
Posts: 47,430 Likes: 373
Member CHB-OG
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Member CHB-OG
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 47,430 Likes: 373 |
Sammy's Phenobarbital costs $160 at Costco and is Biopharma made. This past month, I got it compounded just for him and it only cost me $119.00 
Contrarian, extraordinaire
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Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 19,831 Likes: 180
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 19,831 Likes: 180 |
Y'know, you don't just go down to the local Walgreens with a scrip in your hand to get Harvoni. There are a multitude of tests and screenings and approvals. No illicit drugs, alcohol, marijuana or anything else is allowed in your system. Once approved the Harvoni was overnighted to me from a specialty pharmacy in California. I had to sign for it because each of the three shipments of 30 tablets was valued at over $32000.00. The hepatitis is cured but the cirrhosis is here to stay. I will never have another drink in my life as even one could be fatal. I will celebrate(??) a year of sobriety next month.
Good coffee, good weed, and time on my hands...
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Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 19,831 Likes: 180
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 19,831 Likes: 180 |
Jezz, Rick, phenobarb used to be $3bucks for a hundred of them....
That was probably before you were born though.
Good coffee, good weed, and time on my hands...
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Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 17,177 Likes: 254
It's the Despair Quotient! Carpal Tunnel
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It's the Despair Quotient! Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 17,177 Likes: 254 |
Holy krap, I think I better quit complaining about my little aches and pains!
"The Best of the Leon Russell Festivals" DVD
deepfreezefilms.com
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