Things have gone from bad to worse for Brian Helstien. For a decade, he’s been grappling with multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer. Now he needs surgery for a leaky heart valve.
Helstien faces a list price of nearly $20,000 a month for his cancer pills, although his out-of-pocket cost with insurance is much lower.The harsh reality is that the United States is one of the few developed countries that allow pharmaceutical companies to charge whatever they want for prescription drugs — even when production costs are just a fraction of the list price.
Thanks to his Kaiser Medicare Advantage coverage, Helstien pays only an $11.20 co-pay for each drug purchase. That’s good for him, but it doesn’t mitigate the jaw-dropping list prices set by Celgene, which affect all insurers and their policyholders in the form of higher premiums.Nor does it let Medicare off the hook from paying such sky-high amounts.
Remember thalidomide? It was a sedative discovered in the 1950s that was prescribed to pregnant women worldwide to relieve anxiety and morning sickness.Researchers later found that thalidomide caused irreversible birth defects, with thousands of children born with severe malformations and many not surviving more than a few days. It was one of the darkest episodes in the history of the global drug industry.
Celgene’s new parent, Bristol-Myers, rejects suggestions that its thalidomide-based drugs are wildly overpriced. That’s a more straightforward, if disturbing, explanation — with profound implications for the list price of a possible COVID-19 vaccine, which could be available by next year.
Davidlaz And why the USA destroys all other countries in treatment innovation.
Davidlaz Take a look at how much money is given to politicians from the pharmaceutical industry and who they are supporting then compare it to how much say the NRA gives & to whom, then tell me who really is in who's pocket.
zarchasmpgmr Davidlaz Big Pharma: 'But, but, if we can't charge ridiculous prices, how will we get rich?'
Davidlaz WHO should invite all nation participation in developing vaccine. Make and sell it at cost. Beside, no country can develope vaccine alone as they need for strains sample from other part of the world
Davidlaz It really is the beginning of the end for this country. With CaliguTrump in power, his sociopathic posturing, do nothing about it approach to the pandemic, shifting blame & responsibility while this time bomb is ticking; we're pretty screwed right now.