American News Report : The cost of specialty drugs used to treat Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is expected to nearly double in the next four years, with an annual price tag exceeding $50,000 per patient, according to a new study. Drugs now used to treat MS already account for over …
Questions?
And yet we don't know what causes MSBut we have expensive drugs pumped into us that either don't work or could kill usgo figure
How long before private insurance companies and single payers, like the NHS, say we're not going to cover these drugs anymore, especially since the benefit doesn't justify the cost? How long before doctors stop recommending these drugs to patients for the same reason?
If the benefit is that my MS hasn't progressed, then I would argue that the cost is justified.
"If the benefit is that my MS hasn't progressed, then I would argue that the cost is justified. "I would tend to agree. However, the drug companies cannot claim this, and no one truly knows if lack of progression is a benefit. So all we have to go on is the trial data: 30% reduction in relapses for the current injectables and teriflunomide, and 50% for BG-10. I don't think these results alone justify a 22.6% annual price increase or a $50,000/year price tag.
Surely that depends on how bad your relapses are?! For some – halving the number of relapses isn't just worth $50k; it's priceless.
This forecast coould be wrong about the first line treatments. I still hope their prices will come down. It's just profiteering that they have got more and more expensive. They want to make as much money as they can before more effective drugs become available. For more effective drugs too, when the number goes up they may cost loss. The list price will stay very high, but sales will be at reduced rates as negotiated with each payer.
I think this would make a really good Panorama or Horizon programme. How effective treatment for MS may be stalled by the greed of big Pharma and the short-sightedness of NICE
Maybe Ben Goldacre can do the programme. I think there have been programmes about bad pharma in the past and there will be some in the future
Given that we know our chums at Big Pharma read this blog, perhaps some of them might put their heads above the parapet and give us their thoughts on this matter, which is obviously of great interest to many. After all their reputation could do with a little boosting after recent revelations!
I wonder what the cost of BG12 will be when it is given approval?Cheap as chips to make yet somehow I suspect it'll be priced at the same level as the rest. I hope I'm being too cynical!