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08-28-2016 12:42 PM
@handygal2 wrote:Unfortunately, l'm realizing more and more that with the big drug companies, it's not so much about helping people get well or stay healthy, but rather all about the $$$$$$. Too bad if people don't have insurance, or if their insurance doesn't adequately cover what they need to stay alive. Greed has won out over ethics. Disgraceful...
@handygal2 - Most drugs (admittedly there are exceptions) are meant to treat symptoms, not cure or make people well. If they made people well, they would no longer need the drugs and big pharma would not make as much money. The idea is to get everyone on drugs they think they need all the time.
08-28-2016 12:49 PM
@ROMARY wrote:Why do 'they' pick just one category? Who decides to single out diabetic drugs across the line? I don't get it............Does some panel or person just awaken one morning and decide that they will raise the prices across the line in just one category? Seriously, I'm clueless.
Because type 2 diabetes is just about the fastest-increasing (by leaps and bounds) disease in the nation, and affects almost half of the population if you include pre-diabetes.
08-28-2016 12:55 PM - edited 08-28-2016 12:57 PM
Januvia is one of the newer ones, and it is exorbitant. Once you get into the doughnut hole of your insurance, the cost for 90 days is $391. Before that, I think it's $129. Of course it won't have a generic for 10 years. Crestor just recently became elegible for a generic, but though it is much cheaper than Crestor, it is still $87 for 3 months supply. The drug lobby gets what they want....always. Many doctors now will prescribe so that people can get drugs in Canada without using their insurance. It's still cheaper than getting the same drugs here.
08-28-2016 01:02 PM
@willdob3 wrote:
@handygal2 wrote:Unfortunately, l'm realizing more and more that with the big drug companies, it's not so much about helping people get well or stay healthy, but rather all about the $$$$$$. Too bad if people don't have insurance, or if their insurance doesn't adequately cover what they need to stay alive. Greed has won out over ethics. Disgraceful...
@handygal2 - Most drugs (admittedly there are exceptions) are meant to treat symptoms, not cure or make people well. If they made people well, they would no longer need the drugs and big pharma would not make as much money. The idea is to get everyone on drugs they think they need all the time.
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@willdob3, I am certainly no fan of big pharma, but your statement is a broad general statement that at it's basic premise just isnt' true.
The advances we have seen in medications over the past 20-25 years has been astounding with medications that do anything but limit treatment to the symptoms of disease.
People with all types of cancer today are alive due to extraordinary advances in pharmaceuticals that target cancer. There are untold numbers of people cancer free today because of advances in chemotherapy.
HIV/AIDs used to be a death sentence, but today people are living productive lives due to advances in medications. They aren't able to cure HiV/AIDs yet, but patients diagnosed today are not receiving a death sentence due to advances in pharmaceuticals.
There are new medications now for Hepatitis C, which are demonstrating remarkable progress with patients now longer demonstrating viral loads to detect Hep C after taking the medications.
People are living much longer after heart attacks and strokes due to aggressive pharmacological management in the initial onset of the heart attack or stroke.
The fact is, the underlying cause of many diseases are just not well understood.
As I said, I am not a fan of big pharma, but to say they want to keep people sick just to keep them in business does not in any way represent what we have seen over the past several decades. There are tens of thousands of disease out there impacting trillions of people. Yes, some are more common than others but if a cure is found for one, there will then be always be another. Or they will reseach a way to find the cure earlier in the process of the disease. Don't worry, there will always be a reason for them to be in business.
08-28-2016 01:05 PM
@willdob3 wrote:
@handygal2 wrote:Unfortunately, l'm realizing more and more that with the big drug companies, it's not so much about helping people get well or stay healthy, but rather all about the $$$$$$. Too bad if people don't have insurance, or if their insurance doesn't adequately cover what they need to stay alive. Greed has won out over ethics. Disgraceful...
@handygal2 - Most drugs (admittedly there are exceptions) are meant to treat symptoms, not cure or make people well. If they made people well, they would no longer need the drugs and big pharma would not make as much money. The idea is to get everyone on drugs they think they need all the time.
@willdob3: Very good point. And that's unethical as well, IMO.
08-28-2016 01:10 PM
Well, one good thing that will come out of this is that the FDA's approval process will be under a microscope.
In addition to approving the safety and reliability of the drug, I think the FDA also needs to issue approval on not only initial pricing, but any subsequent pricing increases.
08-28-2016 01:12 PM
Aaaaaaand regarding hep C treatment:
http://www.healthline.com/health/hepatitis-c-treatment-cost#1
'Nuff said. If 10 people take it at full price that's $1 million dollars for each ten people. And most people can't afford it if you halved the price.
08-28-2016 01:15 PM
@Tinkrbl44 wrote:Well, one good thing that will come out of this is that the FDA's approval process will be under a microscope.
In addition to approving the safety and reliability of the drug, I think the FDA also needs to issue approval on not only initial pricing, but any subsequent pricing increases.
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I couldn't agree more. However, that would take legislation from Congress. Past history demonstrates that anyone that tries to start that dialouge in Congress is immediately shut down and it is labeled as a threat to capitalism.
08-28-2016 01:21 PM - edited 08-28-2016 01:27 PM
@Moonchilde wrote:Aaaaaaand regarding hep C treatment:
http://www.healthline.com/health/hepatitis-c-treatment-cost#1
'Nuff said. If 10 people take it at full price that's $1 million dollars for each ten people. And most people can't afford it if you halved the price.
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The cost for the meds is exorbitant right now and depends on the length of time the individual needs for treatment, based on the type of Hep C they have.
However, the cost for the one time round of these meds pales in comparison to the overall cost of hospitalizations that many with Hep C incur along with the cost of a liver transplant associated with a life time of taking anti-rejection medications, lab works that have to be drawn for the rest of the person's life, etc.
But in terms of the argument of big pharm only wanting to keep people sick.....the development of these particular medications defies that premise. The pharmaceutical companies would be much better off with people having liver transplants and having to take anti-rejection medications for the rest of their lives; rather than take a 6, 10, or 12 week regimen of meds.
08-28-2016 02:57 PM - edited 08-28-2016 03:00 PM
Wildob3: A bridge made in you know where.............
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