Another Medical Price Increase - The $4,500 Injection
Jan 29, 2017 08:56:26 #
I guess drug companies can charge whatever they want.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/the-4500-injection-to-stop-heroin-overdoses/2017/01/27/becaaca4-dcf6-11e6-ad42-f3375f271c9c_story.html?utm_term=.b1128a5ecdf2&wpisrc=nl_rainbow&wpmm=1
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/the-4500-injection-to-stop-heroin-overdoses/2017/01/27/becaaca4-dcf6-11e6-ad42-f3375f271c9c_story.html?utm_term=.b1128a5ecdf2&wpisrc=nl_rainbow&wpmm=1
Jan 29, 2017 09:04:24 #
Jan 29, 2017 09:13:34 #
Jan 29, 2017 09:23:04 #
I did a little research. They are a privately held company. As such, financials are hard to come by to see if they are making money (or not) and how much but holy crap, a privately held drug company with many products in their portfolio. Someone who started/bankrolling this company has to have some deep pockets!
Jan 29, 2017 09:26:12 #
Beware, these are the things that drive a nation into dictatorship as legal criminals drive the people into the ground.
Jan 29, 2017 09:47:36 #
aflundi
Loc: Albuquerque, NM
jerryc41 wrote:
I guess drug companies can charge whatever they want.
Jerry, I'm sure out of modesty you withheld the price you are willing to sell it for. Heck with it, go ahead and give us your price and your website.
Jan 29, 2017 09:51:09 #
Dictatorship? Really? So, then Henry Ford was also a legal criminal, and thousands of other innovators, like Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, Steve Jobs and on and on? Without people like these you would still be riding a horse and communicating via pen, paper and US postal service. There does need to be a balance but without people taking risks to develop things, we would still have polio, and every other surge known to man. My wife has extreme rheumatoid arthritis and I am happy there are companies who make drugs that can help her.
Jan 29, 2017 09:57:39 #
Drugs can cost a fortune to develope. Research is not free. But I agree that going from an established price of 15.00 to 600.00 ie. is ridiculous. We don't want to discourage what's coming out from these biopharma companies.
WayneT wrote:
Their cost X 5 would probably bring it down to about $50.00.
Jan 29, 2017 09:59:27 #
It really is a tough balance but there are laws against price gouging which I really feel some of this fits into. These pharmaceutical companies have patents that only last 17 years and for the most part it takes them 12 to 16 years to clear the FDA with a new drug which leaves them a very short window to recoup their investment on the medication to get it to market. I've always felt if they would change the patent laws to allow these companies to start their 17 year patent period when they have the product ready for market the overall cost of new drugs would come down substantially. The last couple of examples that we have seen of extreme pricing seem to be coming from small privately owned companies trying to take advantage of market share situations and gouging the public. The major pharmaceutical companies are not doing this. I just think we need to enforce or enhance gouging laws federally.
Jan 29, 2017 09:59:56 #
Well I DO feel that texting is a big step backward. LOL
346pak wrote:
Dictatorship? Really? So, then Henry Ford was al... (show quote)
Jan 29, 2017 10:20:55 #
I'm a substance abuse counselor and I see the effects of heroin use every day! the pharmaceutical companies charge the high price because there's more of a demand for this than ever before... Unfortunately the people I see cannot afford that. Most of them are on ACCHSS and Ihave no idea if it will be covered for them... Especially since methadone and Suboxone are far cheaper.
Jan 30, 2017 06:31:20 #
paulrph1
Loc: Washington, Utah
[quote=jerryc41]I guess drug companies can charge whatever they want.
Ohttp://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-438832-1.htmIfd
If they are a small company and only have one drug to make their money on and it cost millions to research out and they have a limited market that price might seem excessive but it will not be. They do have company to run. Or you could do the other thing and go without. But I too feel the pain and between me and Social Security, my insulin costs are around $30,000 a year. That seems to me to be excessive but I do not like the alternative.
Most drug companies have a provision if you cannot afford the costs they will help you out. You can call them and see what they can do. And sometimes their parameters seem to make little sense also.
Ohttp://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-438832-1.htmIfd
If they are a small company and only have one drug to make their money on and it cost millions to research out and they have a limited market that price might seem excessive but it will not be. They do have company to run. Or you could do the other thing and go without. But I too feel the pain and between me and Social Security, my insulin costs are around $30,000 a year. That seems to me to be excessive but I do not like the alternative.
Most drug companies have a provision if you cannot afford the costs they will help you out. You can call them and see what they can do. And sometimes their parameters seem to make little sense also.
Jan 30, 2017 06:43:15 #
Drug patents start when the drug goes to market, and pharma companies use many techniques of tweaking things, such as drug coatings, to extend their patent. Consider Premarin - estrogens extracted from horse piss. There is no generic, even though this has been on the market for decades. TheEpi-pen injects medication that has been around for decades - the patent is on the injector, which they made minor changes to a few years back so that they could extend their patent. And even when the patent expires, they come up with new ways to keep the price up. When the migraine medication Imitrex was nearing the end of its patent protection, they introduced a pill which was a combination of Imitrex and naproxen ("Aleve"). The drug salesmen came around with shiny graphs and photos showing how this "new" medicine was better than Imitrex at treating headaches - at $12 a pill. My first thought, of course, was to ask if it was any better than taking a $3 generic along with an Aleve - but of course, they didn't have THAT graph!
Jan 30, 2017 06:45:43 #
I had a patient in a few weeks ago - he was complaining about his copayment for a cancer medication he was taking - Gleevec. His copayment was $80 per month. I looked that up on GoodRx.com and showed him that the cash price for 30 pills - a month's worth - of Gleevec was just shy of $9,000! He said: "Oh hell - I'm getting a deal!" And meanwhile, the rest of us complain about our premiums being high....
Jan 30, 2017 07:02:43 #
paulrph1
Loc: Washington, Utah
sb wrote:
Drug patents start when the drug goes to market, a... (show quote)
The way I understand it being a pharmacist as far as the Premarin (pregnant mares urine) goes there is no equivalent because it is a hormone and they being of the complexity that they are would be hard to duplicate. The same goes for Synthroid. And the generics even though they are available cannot prove to be equivalent. But I have been upset with viagra which the patent seems to go on forever.
If you want to reply, then register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.