New Drug Cure For Hepatitus C Costs $300 Vrs. $84K For Existing One

[wacojoe]

As I mentioned here in the past, my daughter received the old cure and insurance paid the $84,000 tab. I was successful, but the damage had been done before that drug came on the market, and she succumbed to the effects among a variety of injuries. Because of her treatments, I learned more than I wanted to know about drug used in treatment of diseases and that drug in particular.

I was told by one of her physicians that approximately 60% of prison inmates have contracted Hep C. Our prisons have a duty to treat the disease. Before the drug combination prompting this thread, if society funds the costs of treating tens of thousands of inmates @ $84,000 each, as duty requires, we are talking many tens of billion$. $300 per would save an awesome amount and cost the drug manufacturers of the older drug (and their stockholders) a mint.

I am interested to see if the U.S. FDA approves this new drug combination and when. I note the article is concentrated on foreign tests and sources.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/...00-alternative

[Wannabe]

As I mentioned here in the past, my daughter received the old cure and insurance paid the $84,000 tab. I was successful, but the damage had been done before that drug came on the market, and she succumbed to the effects among a variety of injuries. Because of her treatments, I learned more than I wanted to know about drug used in treatment of diseases and that drug in particular.

I was told by one of her physicians that approximately 60% of prison inmates have contracted Hep C. Our prisons have a duty to treat the disease. Before the drug combination prompting this thread, if society funds the costs of treating tens of thousands of inmates @ $84,000 each, as duty requires, we are talking many tens of billion$. $300 per would save an awesome amount and cost the drug manufacturers of the older drug (and their stockholders) a mint.

I am interested to see if the U.S. FDA approves this new drug combination and when. I note the article is concentrated on foreign tests and sources.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/...00-alternative

I would not bet 2 cents on the cheaper cure getting approved. It is ALL about dollars and cents.If it passed I would truly be shocked.

[Dork]

Very cool, did not know about your daughter, that is a shame about her, very sorry.

Know a clinical pharmacist who works for a major insurance company authorizing high end drugs & woza the stuff he is asked to authorize and why....Hep C is HUGE is a way I never dreamed of and that's in working class population with health insurance.

THis would save billions...and countless lives.....

As I mentioned here in the past, my daughter received the old cure and insurance paid the $84,000 tab. I was successful, but the damage had been done before that drug came on the market, and she succumbed to the effects among a variety of injuries. Because of her treatments, I learned more than I wanted to know about drug used in treatment of diseases and that drug in particular.

I was told by one of her physicians that approximately 60% of prison inmates have contracted Hep C. Our prisons have a duty to treat the disease. Before the drug combination prompting this thread, if society funds the costs of treating tens of thousands of inmates @ $84,000 each, as duty requires, we are talking many tens of billion$. $300 per would save an awesome amount and cost the drug manufacturers of the older drug (and their stockholders) a mint.

I am interested to see if the U.S. FDA approves this new drug combination and when. I note the article is concentrated on foreign tests and sources.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/...00-alternative

[TxMusky]

Big Pharma needs to be knocked down a long way. They are selling poison at a profit and charging the crap out of people and insurance companies.

[Dork]

Big Pharma needs to be knocked down a long way. They are selling poison at a profit and charging the crap out of people and insurance companies.

True to a point, but at the same time they are also breaking even on some meds and some not making money on.

Problem is R&D costs so much, like in Canada they are limited by law on the prices of meds from what I was told & those prices are not enough to cover the development of drugs...nothing new would ever be developed & then you have mexico and other countries making up what they can copying the real deal and selling it, you never know what ya get from mexico from what I've been told.

It's a real mess and more government regulations will just make it worse. yet in Europe they can develop and test and use a med 10 times faster than we can & even after 10 years of use in Europe we can't use the same drug here in the states thanks to government regulations....

[wacojoe]

Dork put his finger on a lot of it. Yes, there are instances when drug manufacturers have used their superior position to gouge the customer/patient/ins. co. I used to take tetracycline, one of the oldest antibiotics in the bag, the patent having run out 50 years ago. I took it for years for Rosacea, a minor chronic skin infection, and it cost a few bucks a prescription for decades. Suddenly, it is now costing between $300 and $700 a prescription. Wtf! It’s still chump change in Canada...I checked.

I am grateful that drug manufacturers and enterprising doctors still care enough to go after diseases and invent new drugs though. My wife contracted a dread “orphan disease,” which is the term in use to described those so rare that they do not get much attention. There are around 6000 of those diseases now known and identified. Some are deadly and/or disabling. Only a very few of those diseases have effective drugs to control or cure the effects. The one my wife contracted - Atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (aHUS) - only has somewhere less than 500 diagnosed patients with the disease in the U.S. The drug which was developed that was found to control aHUS, Soliris (eculizumab), cost over a billion dollars to invent and guide through tests for FDA approval. That is a normal and average cost for any drug to get to that stage. My wife’s drug costs $24,000 every 2 weeks. It is said to be the most expensive drug in the world and paid by Medicare and supplemental insurance in my case, you are no doubt wondering.

If you amortize the cost to develope and produce the drug (it takes three years to “grow” each dose), divided by the minuscule number of recipients even though it is used for another rare disease, PNH, it is easy to see why the cost is astronomical, yet we are thankful for the dedicated doctors at Harvard who took it upon themselves to develope the drug, then organize their new company to produce and distribute it, plus a system which allows us to pay for it. Many are not so lucky to be in this country which has it (most countries refuse to pay for it. Their patients suffer and die), and some in the U.S. are frozen out because of their insurance situation.

Drugs are complicated. If the rare people who can produce these drugs cannot be paid, then the pipeline will dry up.

[Dork]

Mrs Rampy has a genetic liver condition and is on meds for it. We have traveled to one of the very best liver clinics in America and sat with a Doc who laid it out that there are so few people with this genetic liver disease she can postpone a transplant, but depending on a few life factors, will need a liver transplant at some time...

Reason being nobody wants to invest the money it takes to find a medicine for this disease as it's just to rare.....

So we know that Mrs Rampy will 1, need a liver transplant or 2, the disease will kill her at some point if he otherwise lives long enough....

[mgrist]

I was diagnosed with chronic active Hep C in the early ninties, they had to send my blood to Cali. I think it was, that was the closest place to get my blood tested. They gave me five years to live and said there was nothing they could do. They wanted to draw blood every month and do biopsies so they could narrow down when I was going to die........I said screw this if I'm going to die I'd rather die without a thousand holes in me. Five years later I saw the doctor much to his surprise, that told me I was going to die in Africa, yep Africa. He was there on a medical mission and I was there renovating missionary homes. When we got back to the states he wanted to do a full work up to see why I didn't die. Turns out I had developed antibodies, don't remember what exactly they did, I think they just keep it in check because I still test positive for hep C and I'm obviously not dead.

[Wannabe]

Dork put his finger on a lot of it. Yes, there are instances when drug manufacturers have used their superior position to gouge the customer/patient/ins. co. I used to take tetracycline, one of the oldest antibiotics in the bag, the patent having run out 50 years ago. I took it for years for Rosacea, a minor chronic skin infection, and it cost a few bucks a prescription for decades. Suddenly, it is now costing between $300 and $700 a prescription. Wtf! It’s still chump change in Canada...I checked.

I am grateful that drug manufacturers and enterprising doctors still care enough to go after diseases and invent new drugs though. My wife contracted a dread “orphan disease,” which is the term in use to described those so rare that they do not get much attention. There are around 6000 of those diseases now known and identified. Some are deadly and/or disabling. Only a very few of those diseases have effective drugs to control or cure the effects. The one my wife contracted - Atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (aHUS) - only has somewhere less than 500 diagnosed patients with the disease in the U.S. The drug which was developed that was found to control aHUS, Soliris (eculizumab), cost over a billion dollars to invent and guide through tests for FDA approval. That is a normal and average cost for any drug to get to that stage. My wife’s drug costs $24,000 every 2 weeks. It is said to be the most expensive drug in the world and paid by Medicare and supplemental insurance in my case, you are no doubt wondering.

If you amortize the cost to develope and produce the drug (it takes three years to “grow” each dose), divided by the minuscule number of recipients even though it is used for another rare disease, PNH, it is easy to see why the cost is astronomical, yet we are thankful for the dedicated doctors at Harvard who took it upon themselves to develope the drug, then organize their new company to produce and distribute it, plus a system which allows us to pay for it. Many are not so lucky to be in this country which has it (most countries refuse to pay for it. Their patients suffer and die), and some in the U.S. are frozen out because of their insurance situation.

Drugs are complicated. If the rare people who can produce these drugs cannot be paid, then the pipeline will dry up.

I am in an email group with folks of varied backgrounds. One is a pharmacist and I ask him about the price of Tetracycline and here is his response. He has worked for several of the big drug companies and spent 16 years dealing with vaccines.

Since no one prescribes it much anymore every one stopped making it. But, the other deal is insurance and PBM's. Since so few actually pay for stuff, the generic companies that make Tetracycline can charge what they want. Insurance pays it so there you go. It's is a lot more complicated but that is the gist of it. A bottle of 100 cost around $430 now, I used to buy a bottle of 1000 for $60

[wacojoe]

The funny thing is that chicken farms and the like use it by the ton, and I am sure they could not pay an equivalent jacked-up price in comparison. Incidentally, my insurance company will not pay for tetracycline since it went through the roof.

[Dork]

My pain management specialist ordered me norflex as a muscle relaxant, I've tried everything and their brother the VA has and the only good muscle relaxant I've had from the VA is Valium and they won't give me Valium due to PTSD (diagnosis, not in treatment)

Turns out Norflex is non forumlary and since the VA does not carry it, I'm screwed unless I want to purchase it from Walmart or other pharmacies that carry it.

I was told the VA won't get it, it's to expensive....and when I asked if it was a life saving medication, would the VA get it, or is it to expensive, the pharmacist turned and walked away not answering....

[wacojoe]

^^^
Checking on my trusty GoodRX app., the generic Norflex is available here at Costco and my supermarket pharmacy for $32 w/ coupon for 100 pills. The app lets you download a coupon.

[mgrist]

My pain management specialist ordered me norflex as a muscle relaxant, I've tried everything and their brother the VA has and the only good muscle relaxant I've had from the VA is Valium and they won't give me Valium due to PTSD (diagnosis, not in treatment)

....

I can't take muscle relaxers, they mess me up. Been taking xanax for years in place of it, Valium works also. But now the feds (According to my pain doc) have got some kind of new regulation that says a doctor can't perscribe xanax and opiates together. My doc has been cutting the amount down every month for about four months now.

[Dork]

^^^
Checking on my trusty GoodRX app., the generic Norflex is available here at Costco and my supermarket pharmacy for $32 w/ coupon for 100 pills. The app lets you download a coupon.

I also fall under tricare and can get meds at a mil base or by mail or at wally world and select pharmacies.....and according to tricares webpage Orphenadrine (norflex) might be avaible at the local base & I've got to check....

Orphenadrine CitrateGeneric

100 Mg
Tablet, Extended Release

Search for another drug

Pharmacy Is this drug covered? You Pay
Active duty Non-active duty
Military Pharmacy (MTF)

YES

This is a Uniform Formulary (UF) Medication This is a Uniform Formulary (UF) Medication
Uniform Formulary designated drugs may or may not be available at your local MTF pharmacy so check with your specific location to be sure. Additionally note that Generic products are preferred and their brand counterparts may not be stocked.
Home Delivery Pharmacy
Up to 90 days supply


YES

$0.00 $7.00
Retail Network Pharmacy
Up to 30 days supply


YES

$0.00 $11.00

[Dork]

I can't take muscle relaxers, they mess me up. Been taking xanax for years in place of it, Valium works also. But now the feds (According to my pain doc) have got some kind of new regulation that says a doctor can't perscribe xanax and opiates together. My doc has been cutting the amount down every month for about four months now.

I can't get Xanax or Valium as I've been diagnosed with PTSD and as such, those are meds the VA/Tricare/MTF will only very sparingly give out for specific reasons. The VA is also trying to go 100% narcotic free and absolutely refuse to give any out unless thru the ER for acute injuries and to taper guys off that have been on for 40 years....

I had a large bore CT for my back & normally get 15mg of Valium 1 hour prior and 5mg as I climb into the machine and ithis time they gage me 5mg. So I went in feet first instead of head first and only tried climbing out 3 times...took way longer and had to have wife striped down and encased in lead standing at my head, holding hands trying to keep me from loosing it so they could get what they needed.

My back is jacked up and I've got agent orange nephropathy, so instead of giving me 15-25 10mg vicodan a month to take the edge off the VA sends me to acupuncture weekly, now I'm also going to physical therapy weekly and a AO chiropractor along with pain management...all to keep from giving me a few pills that I won't get addicted to.

I almost went into a ER up in Canada 2 weeks ago, but nobody could tell me how that worked with the VA or tricare so I did not...managed to get back in the states before finding a VA with a ER and went there...only to get a injection of Norflex and 1, 10/325 perc after 4.5 hours...and put on antibiotics for walking pneumonia....