“Do MS DMTs justify their current premium? A large number of MS drugs are repurposed and hence their risk of failure has been low. Despite this the costs remain high.”
“Re-purposed licensed MS drugs include mitoxantrone (Novantrone), teriflunomide (Aubagio), dimethyl fumarate (Tecfidera) and alemtuzumab (Lemtrada). In addition, many drugs in late stage development are also repurposed, i.e. daclizumab and ocrelizumab. The article below discusses the issues around high-cost drugs. Pharma say they need to charge a lot to make the necessary profits to feedback into their R&D programmes to drive new cycles of innovation. They also argue that their drugs will eventually come off patent and the prices will fall and the population will then get cheap versions. In other words we pay a premium now so that future generations get cheap drugs.”
Barlas S. Are specialty drug prices destroying insurers and hurting consumers?: a number of efforts are under way to reduce price pressure.P T. 2014 Aug;39(8):563-6
Organizations are trying to address the high cost of “specialty” medications that treat conditions such as cancer, hepatitis C, and multiple sclerosis. While comprising less than 1% of U.S. prescriptions, these drugs now account for 27% of pharmacy spending.
Hey, how is 90 mln into the pocket of the CEO going to improve future development and innovation in medicine ? :-)Pharma is sick. New drugs are priced at a level that only governments can pay, no patient could possibly afford years of MS drugs as an "out of pocket" expense ( unless thay are a pharma CEO, that is…)J
Didnt you say NICE was the reason for Pharma leaving the UK?
This is codswallop. The main funding for research is still primarily subsidised by Parliament. Parliament funds British universities. Government pays Prof G and MouseDoc's salaries. Big Pharma steps in when potential breakthroughs are made.
Yesterday's headlines were MS sufferers in England can't get Sativex on NHS prescription. It's free for patients in Wales. My Welsh friend suffering from Cancer has to travel to England for his treatment. We can't have it all.