<p>From my limited knowledge, I dont get Avastin. Doesnt seem worth the cost.</p>
<p>I missed the lawsuit against Gild.</p>
<p>I thought Gild was made up of scum-sucking lowlifes but the drug works. :)</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.bioworld.com/content/gilead-strikes-first-latest-round-hcv-patent-wars-0”>http://www.bioworld.com/content/gilead-strikes-first-latest-round-hcv-patent-wars-0</a></p>
<p>The drug works, but it works just as well for $55K as for $84K. They’re just charging Americans more because they can. In my dreams, the insurers and Medicaid succeed in turning over the costs of Sovaldi to the government. And then (I’m dreaming very hard now) the government says, $15K a treatment, Gilead, take it or leave it, you scum-sucking lowlives.</p>
<p>:) i dont know if I like your dream. :)</p>
<p>“They’re just charging Americans more because they can.”</p>
<p>This is true. But, the consequences of price controls are less new drugs that work. It would be cheaper, though.</p>
<p>Gilead was the idea of a venture capitalist or two, no? Is that common? I’d guess it may be-?</p>
<p>Flossy, this pharm stuff is new territory for me- but the reports are saying many firms are on the bandwagon, that prices may adapt, with competition. I think what worries me is that J&J’s 60k seems to be some sort of baseline. Big drugs seem to be the new entrepreneurial niche. </p>
<p>So Flossy, you’re perfectly all right with Americans paying $84,000 for a drug that Canadians can get for $55,000? Because we should subsidize those third-world hockey-stick-wielding Canucks? </p>
<p>From twitter…</p>
<p>"HealthCare.gov
@HealthCareGov</p>
<p>Nearly 4M visits to HC.gov last week. More calls to call center Friday since December. Enroll by March 31. #GetCoveredNow
3:47 p.m. Sat, Mar 15"</p>
<p>CF - No, I didn’t say that and have purchased drugs from Canada online a time or two myself. But, that is how it works. When is the last time a Canadian pharmaceutical company developed a breakthrough drug? That’s a question. I don’t know the answer although I suspect it’s a rarity. This goes to quality of care and medical advances. A concern. </p>
<p>The drug is cheaper than a liver transplant, which is the end result, unless death occurs first. Some insurance companies are covering the new Hep C drug because it is so effective. </p>
<p>The three top pharma companies in the world are Johnson & Johnson, Novartis and Roche. Johnson & Johnson is a US-based company. Novartis and Roche are both Swiss. Switzerland, you may be interested to learn, has price controls on prescription drugs. So I guess having price controls on prescription drugs in the home country doesn’t prevent a pharma company from developing new drugs.</p>
<p>I’m not saying Sovaldi doesn’t work. Apparently it does work. What I’m saying is, Sovaldi is the poster child for price controls, because Gilead is not charging a price that has anything to do with their development costs or their production costs. </p>
<p>I don’t care if Apple charges an arm and a leg for a new iPad. But when Gilead cold-bloodedly condemns people to death just because they can, that’s where I draw the line.</p>
<p>CF, Gild paid $11 billion to buy the company that started development on the drug. Probably another $1 billion
More to develop the drug.</p>
<p>The price Gild is asking is probably a little too high. Your $15,000 number is a nightmare. :)</p>
<p><a href=“Gilead to Buy Pharmasset for $11 Billion - The New York Times”>Gilead to Buy Pharmasset for $11 Billion - The New York Times;
<p>If the alternative is an expensive liver transplant, which will only become reinfected if the virus is still around, then Sovaldi is cost-effective. If insurance companies are covering the cost, then they feel it is cost effective. </p>
<p>Novartis and Roche are global companies with R & D facilities in the US and investors worldwide. They are not exactly Swiss. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Flossy, the bulk of research in Canada is not conducted by pharmaceutical companies, but rather in hospital and university research centres, overseen by groups/organizations like the one linked below:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Well, someone has to! </p>
<p>No, the alternative to this drug is a handful of other Rx mentioned in links.</p>
<p>“F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. is a Swiss global health-care company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company, Roche Holding AG, has shares listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange.”</p>
<p>“Novartis International AG is a Swiss multinational pharmaceutical company based in Basel, Switzerland, ranking number two in sales among the world-wide industry in 2010.”</p>
<p>“GlaxoSmithKline plc is a British multinational pharmaceutical, biologics, vaccines and consumer healthcare company headquartered in Brentford, London.”</p>
<p>OK, so we are supposed to be rewarding Gilead for developing the drug, when they didn’t even develop it? </p>
<p>Profit is incentive for innovation. I want biotechs and pharmaceutical companies to make money and have incentives to hire scientists, do R & D, go through the lengthy FDA approval process, do the clinical trials, get the patents, etc and then develop drugs that can cure diseases that affect millions world wide. The real problem is why there is so much need for Hep C drugs. Here in the U. S., the main route of transmission is IV drug use. Go after that.</p>
<p>CF, did you ever watch the Mary Tyler Moore show? Remember the epidode where Ted paid Murray to write something up for him. Then Ted won some money based on what Murray wrote. Ted got the credit. </p>
<p>He who owns rules…which is why Roche is a Swiss company. :)</p>
<p>Gild did help develop the drug. Got it thru FDA approvals. And GILD paid thru the nose for what was previously developed.</p>
<p>Edit: I am not saying what Gild is charging is right.</p>
<p>"More calls to call center Friday since December. "</p>
<p>We made about 20 of those calls in the last 3 days.</p>
<p>Their verification process is very messed up. We have visa holders getting discounts while a citizen got denied coverage because their current passports don’t match with a 20 year old mispelled social security card. They flat out said until you get your SS card/name fixed to match your passport, we can’t cover you even at full fare.</p>