31–40 of 95 posts
This is exactly what you get when there is no transparency, and everything is driven by non-market forces. Why not create an actual market where all medications, medical services, tests, etc, have a known price and people can make decisions based on cost, quality, and other factors?
Kenneth Arrow showed in 1963 that markets can't work for Healthcare.
The reason seems pretty clear from contrasting these two passages: > The pricing is all the more infuriating when one considers that the discoverers of insulin sold the patent for $1 each to ensure that the medication would be affordable. > The bigger issue, however, is that companies tweak their formulations so they can get new patents, instead of working to create cheaper generic versions.
There is a great living for someone to make a generic. No need to make bazillions. Crowd fund it. Or, regulate. Both would be just fine with me.
I've been mostly off of insulin for well over a year, though I do keep a vial in the fridge for emergencies, I tend to have a spike once in a while.
Personally, I think it's about time for medical patents to all but be disbanded. The terms are too long, revision patents should not be allowed, and there should be dual-sourcing requirements for FDA approval. If there aren't two mfg's (cannon have a shared parent owner), you cannot sell the thing.
> There are several reasons that insulin is so expensive. It is a biologic drug, meaning that it’s produced in living cells, which is a difficult manufacturing process. Seems like this is a fairly minimal component. Per the chart at https://twitter.com/odavis_/status/930094350478045184 , the price has gone up 10x in the last twenty years or so. It has presumably not gotten more difficult to manufacture.
As the list price rose and rebates grew, Novo ended up paying more and more rebate money into the health insurance system. Employers used these extra payments to offset costs in any area, including hospital and physician payments. Health plans used them to reduce premiums and also offset other healthcare costs. PBMs retained a portion of these rebates as their profits.
[1]https://www.drugchannels.net/2016/12/novo-nordisk-sheds-new-...
While not for everyone, there's religious-like contention on all sides... but a ketogenic diet and fasting focus can help most people get off of insulin. It isn't easy and takes more effort for some than others. I've been mostly off of insulin for well over a year, though I do keep a vial in the fridge for emergencies, I tend to have a spike once in a while. Personally, I think it's about time for medical patents to…
Interestingly, Walmart sells generic insulin. The same stuff used decades ago, for only $25 a vial. However, the advances in insulin since then mean it’s a much more burdensome therapy. https://insulinnation.com/treatment/why-walmart-insulins-are...
So this implies that the articles blame on greedy drug manufacturers tweaking formulas to keep patent protection isn't really correct since they have made progress in actually improving the drug. Not to say there is no greed here, but our policy has been that if you do the work of making a new drug, you get to charge whatever you want for an extended period of time. This is the result of the policies we have chosen.
I always say this, but reading that makes me think thank God for the NHS in the UK. Health and education should never be a business. The pharmaceutical companies are so strong and greedy in the US they want people on their drugs, rather than look for preventing the problems. They often lambast and send confusing scientific studies out to ensure no alternative therapies succeed over their drugs.
For Type 1 diabetics in particular, technological support in the form of insulin pumps, continuous glucose metres, and closed-loop systems are only handed out readily to children, while in the US they are far more commonplace since they are covered by insurance. Personally, it took me 3 1/2 years of fighting to get my pump – something that I would have had in months if I would have remained in Japan. One week ago I finally got it and what a difference it makes in terms of control. However, a continuous glucose monitor is nowhere in sight and I frankly do not expect to get one within a decade. Perhaps a pseudo-continuous glucose monitor like the FreeStyle Libre if I am lucky. My diabetes team in London is great and pro technology, but I can only imagine those that are less well-informed on how to make the system (NHS) work or live out in the country. Do they receive the technology they need to manage this disease?
For those of us with Type 1 diabetes that seek technological support, do read up over at Insulin Pumpers UK [1]. Also, never feel ashamed to seek the technology that would help you live longer and less constrained by our illness.
While not for everyone, there's religious-like contention on all sides... but a ketogenic diet and fasting focus can help most people get off of insulin. It isn't easy and takes more effort for some than others. I've been mostly off of insulin for well over a year, though I do keep a vial in the fridge for emergencies, I tend to have a spike once in a while. Personally, I think it's about time for medical patents to…
I’d argue you’d get far fewer advances in drugs with a system like that.
Why is insulin not an over the counter medicine? Would having it OTC cause problems on the scale of alcohol? What's the "value add" of having a doctor renew an insulin prescription?