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How I Got the $84k Hepatitis C Drug for $1500 by Buying It from India

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Re: How I Got the $84k Hepatitis C Drug for $1500 by Buying It from India

#21
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What exactly is "gouging?" The average wedding in the U.S. is almost $30,000. Average new car price is $33,000. Is $84,000 one-time an unreasonable price for a complete cure to a chronic disease?

But you can choose to have a cheap wedding, and choose to buy a used car.

You can also choose to not share dirty needles.

Re: How I Got the $84k Hepatitis C Drug for $1500 by Buying It from India

#22

I'm conflicted about this article. On the one hand, the pharmaceutical companies gouging ordinary Americans is abominable. Doing something to circumvent their greed is something to support. On the other hand, if enough people exploit loopholes like this, and the pharma company actually felt a significant drain in revenue, they may decide not to license the manufacture of these drugs in India at lower prices. If $84,0…

India can break patents on drugs it considers too expensive. The real danger is if this sort of thing makes drugs unprofitable pharma companies won't spend any money researching drugs to treat uncommon conditions, and the drug will never exist to start with.

We'll get endless varieties of new opioids, blood pressure pills, pecker perkers, and not much else.

Re: How I Got the $84k Hepatitis C Drug for $1500 by Buying It from India

#23

I'm conflicted about this article. On the one hand, the pharmaceutical companies gouging ordinary Americans is abominable. Doing something to circumvent their greed is something to support. On the other hand, if enough people exploit loopholes like this, and the pharma company actually felt a significant drain in revenue, they may decide not to license the manufacture of these drugs in India at lower prices. If $84,0…

"and the pharma company actually felt a significant drain in revenue, they may decide not to license the manufacture of these drugs in India at lower prices"

But thats the thing. There will be no drain in revenue as they make money in the US by selling for $84K while they make money from the sales in India as well due to licensing agreement (albeit a bit less revenue).

Overall, still a pretty good deal for these pharma companies if you ask me otherwise why would they even do such a deal with India ?

Re: How I Got the $84k Hepatitis C Drug for $1500 by Buying It from India

#25

I'm conflicted about this article. On the one hand, the pharmaceutical companies gouging ordinary Americans is abominable. Doing something to circumvent their greed is something to support. On the other hand, if enough people exploit loopholes like this, and the pharma company actually felt a significant drain in revenue, they may decide not to license the manufacture of these drugs in India at lower prices. If $84,0…

"..not to license the manufacture of these drugs in India"

And then India can purchase/void their domestic patent, allowing generic brands to fill the market the original creator decided to abandon.

Re: How I Got the $84k Hepatitis C Drug for $1500 by Buying It from India

#26

I'm conflicted about this article. On the one hand, the pharmaceutical companies gouging ordinary Americans is abominable. Doing something to circumvent their greed is something to support. On the other hand, if enough people exploit loopholes like this, and the pharma company actually felt a significant drain in revenue, they may decide not to license the manufacture of these drugs in India at lower prices. If $84,0…

"and the pharma company actually felt a significant drain in revenue, they may decide not to license the manufacture of these drugs in India at lower prices" But thats the thing. There will be no drain in revenue as they make money in the US by selling for $84K while they make money from the sales in India as well due to licensing agreement (albeit a bit less revenue). Overall, still a pretty good deal for these phar…

Well, my point was that if everyone decided to source it through India, they will no longer sell anything for $84k. Even if 10% of people did that, their profits will slip enough for them to notice and take action.

Re: How I Got the $84k Hepatitis C Drug for $1500 by Buying It from India

#27

The article is already off to a bad start, assuming the existing therapy they're talking about is Pegetron: > The interferon-based treatments weren't successful half the time, and the side effects were so debilitating few patients could endure the months-long punishing protocol. If the success rate is 50%, I would say that's pretty good, especially since we're talking about treatment, not just managing the disease (a…

> "The most frequently reported adverse reactions were mostly mild to moderate in severity and were manageable without the need for modification of doses or discontinuation of therapy."

Having gone through two interferon treatments for HCV, one with the most current regimen of pegalated interferon and ribavirin, I can personally attest to this description being ridiculously inaccurate. The OP may exaggerate some, but the contrast with Harvoni is stark.

Headaches, flu-like symptoms, anemia, lethargy, and chemical depression, not to mention high stress on the liver you're ultimately trying to cure, are just some of the lovely side effects of interferon-based treatment, which could last up to 72 weeks. Many people dropped out, many weren't cured. Success rates depended on viral genotype; certainly for some people it was well below 50%. And don't forget the two forms of birth control, since ribavirin basically guarantees birth defects (as if you'd be in the mood).

Harvoni may be expensive, but it and the drugs related to it are unbelievably effective in doing something many thought impossible 10 years ago: curing HCV.

I cleared the virus on the clincal trials with no side effects. Unfortunately, it wasn't soon enough to spare me from a liver transplant. Hopefully the new drugs will reach enough people in time to let them avoid severe liver disease. There aren't enough donor livers to cure, and liver failure is a uniquely crappy way to die.

Re: How I Got the $84k Hepatitis C Drug for $1500 by Buying It from India

#28
post #10

I'm conflicted about this article. On the one hand, the pharmaceutical companies gouging ordinary Americans is abominable. Doing something to circumvent their greed is something to support. On the other hand, if enough people exploit loopholes like this, and the pharma company actually felt a significant drain in revenue, they may decide not to license the manufacture of these drugs in India at lower prices. If $84,0…

What exactly is "gouging?" The average wedding in the U.S. is almost $30,000. Average new car price is $33,000. Is $84,000 one-time an unreasonable price for a complete cure to a chronic disease?

must me nice in your bubble that $84,000 as a one time payment is reasonable. normal people can't get a loan for something like this, and obviously don't have cash stored away for something like this, and like the article mentioned, the op won't get covered by insurance even though he's done his part and paid insurance premiums. he clearly had no other options. glad you drive a $33k car. seems like the op doesn't.

Re: How I Got the $84k Hepatitis C Drug for $1500 by Buying It from India

#29
post #17

> took the pills for 83 days (saving one for possible testing just in case) I would try to arrange testing before starting therapy, or at least at the point of starting therapy. There are labs that will run the test for a few hundred dollars (and a lot less if you know someone at a university, it could even be an analytical chemists' bachelor degree project).

I guess you could reason they are safe to take regardless. If they are counterfeit, they would likely make them out of sugar or flour not harmful chemicals. It wouldn't be in the best interest of the counterfeiters to make pills that harm or kill the buyer.

I wouldn't bet my life on that. In fact, counterfeit drugs are estimated to kill hundreds of thousands of people a year, in many cases directly, not because they don't provide the necessary treatment. See http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/17/health/living-well/falsified-m...

>Fakes contained chalk, talcum powder, road paint and occasionally dangerous heavy metals, instead of the expensive, hard-to-make medicine.

Re: How I Got the $84k Hepatitis C Drug for $1500 by Buying It from India

#30
post #9

I'm conflicted about this article. On the one hand, the pharmaceutical companies gouging ordinary Americans is abominable. Doing something to circumvent their greed is something to support. On the other hand, if enough people exploit loopholes like this, and the pharma company actually felt a significant drain in revenue, they may decide not to license the manufacture of these drugs in India at lower prices. If $84,0…

Right now US citizens are basically subsidizing other countries when it comes to drug revenue via price gouging. I would rather it be done via some other more explicit mechanism (e.g. India government subsidies) rather than at the expense of poor healthcare availability to people in the US.

Considering that Americans consume 75% of the world's prescription drugs, and I think it safe to assume an equivalent amount of non-prescription drugs, I don't think any of this makes much difference. The US is a very strange and unique drug market.

Citation: "5 percent of the United States is the world's population and consumes 75 percent of the the world's prescription drugs."

https://www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/trends-statistics/i...

(And by "Americans" I and the gov included all those people in the US market who are not "US citizens". Ie me.)

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