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Hepatitis C kills more Americans than all other infectious diseases combined

scopeblog.stanford.edu

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Re: Hepatitis C kills more Americans than all other infectious diseases combined

#21

Post by nkozyra »

lawn wrote: post #14
ohyes wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s priced based on ability to pay. US it will be 100,000 other countries it will be less.

Ability to pay? Is that a joke? Considering that 40% of Americans can't cover a $400 emergency expense[0], what makes you think they can pay $84,000 for a 12-week treatment? [0]: https://money.cnn.com/2018/05/22/pf/emergency-expenses-house...

As with most commercial goods there's a market identified and the goods priced accordingly to maximize profit.

This means that somebody is priced out no matter what. Given the state of American healthcare it's easier to reconcile if you remove the emotional part and view a drug treatment as, say, a television. If I make a 50" television and price it at $500, I accept that some people will not buy it and target my television to my intended market.

What I'm saying is the drug companies are probably fine saying "ok, some people can't afford it, but we maximize profit by selling at a premium to those that can."

All that said, if it's life saving you might be surprised what people can and will do, savings notwithstanding.

Re: Hepatitis C kills more Americans than all other infectious diseases combined

#22

Post by latortuga »

shaftoe wrote: post #12

I get their point about stigma, but as someone who has never injected drugs, I'm having a hard time caring about getting screened for this. How do they intend to actually roll out a massive testing operation (everyone under 80) when likely most people hear the details and respond with "meh, not me"?

Also blood transfusions, which could be a wide variety of folks that have had routine surgeries, including, for example, c-sections.

Re: Hepatitis C kills more Americans than all other infectious diseases combined

#23

Post by Bnshsysjab »

save_ferris wrote: post #5
yakz wrote: post #2

Antiviral drugs for hepatitis C are very effective, but they come at a steep cost. Just one Sovaldi pill costs $1,000. A full 12-week course of treatment with this drug costs $84,000. The price of other hepatitis C drugs is also high: Harvoni costs $94,500 for a 12-week treatment Mavyret costs $39,600 for a 12-week treatment Zepatier costs $54,600 for a 12-week treatment Technivie costs $76,653 for a 12-week treatmen…

That is so depressing to read. US pharma companies are completely out of control, there’s absolutely no reason a 12 week treatment should cost around the mean annual US income. Can’t imagine having to decide to risk my entire financial future to deal with Hep C.

I’m not trying to disregard the need for cheap treatment, but by preventing pharma from developing drugs that they profit from kills all R&D.

I’d be open on a success based public funding where IP becomes public domain, but I doubt big pharma would ever pull that trigger.

I’m thankful for modern day drugs, like PReP and PEP (pre and post hiv exposure drugs), vaccines and cancer treatments to name a few, it just sucks that those less fortunate don’t have access yet.

Re: Hepatitis C kills more Americans than all other infectious diseases combined

#24

Post by whatshisface »

gcatalfamo wrote: post #16
whatshisface wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there’s absolutely no reason a 12 week treatment should cost around the mean annual US income. What if it was synthesized in 5,000 steps from pure gold or something?

But is it though?

I can't find any references that say the cost of manufacturing it or inventing it, so the only indication we have that it is expensive is the high price. Interferon is an entire protien so it can't be that cheap.

Re: Hepatitis C kills more Americans than all other infectious diseases combined

#25

Post by chmod775 »

ohyes wrote: post #4
idclip wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jesus how much did these drugs cost to develop? Are these numbers justified?

It’s priced based on ability to pay. US it will be 100,000 other countries it will be less.

In many other countries getting treated for hepatitis C won't cost you a dime besides your regular health insurance payment.

Prices are often negotiated by health insurers and are pretty much guaranteed to be lower for that reason. Depending on what system you are in, you might never even learn what your treatment cost. Not that you should care.

Re: Hepatitis C kills more Americans than all other infectious diseases combined

#27

Post by wbl »

save_ferris wrote: post #5
yakz wrote: post #2

Antiviral drugs for hepatitis C are very effective, but they come at a steep cost. Just one Sovaldi pill costs $1,000. A full 12-week course of treatment with this drug costs $84,000. The price of other hepatitis C drugs is also high: Harvoni costs $94,500 for a 12-week treatment Mavyret costs $39,600 for a 12-week treatment Zepatier costs $54,600 for a 12-week treatment Technivie costs $76,653 for a 12-week treatmen…

That is so depressing to read. US pharma companies are completely out of control, there’s absolutely no reason a 12 week treatment should cost around the mean annual US income. Can’t imagine having to decide to risk my entire financial future to deal with Hep C.

Did you complain this much about the transplant surgeon's bill?

Re: Hepatitis C kills more Americans than all other infectious diseases combined

#28

Post by grzm »

_ink_ wrote: post #26

Why only in the US?

That was the scope of the report. From the first paragraph of the submission:

> "The hepatitis C virus now kills more Americans than all other reportable infectious diseases combined -- including HIV. Acute cases of HCV have increased 3.5-fold over the last decade, particularly among young, white, injection drug users."

Re: Hepatitis C kills more Americans than all other infectious diseases combined

#29

Post by astura »

_ink_ wrote: post #26

Why only in the US?

The recommendation was issued by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force who is funded by the American government whose job it is to issue evidence based preventive medical recommendations for only the American population based on data relevant to the American population. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has neither the authority nor the funding to make Hep C testing recommendations for other countries.

Other countries may have similar issues and their medical task forces may issue similar recommendations, or Hep C might be extremely uncommon in other countries and their medical task force may make different recommendations.

Re: Hepatitis C kills more Americans than all other infectious diseases combined

#30

Post by ameister14 »

idclip wrote: post #3
yakz wrote: post #2

Antiviral drugs for hepatitis C are very effective, but they come at a steep cost. Just one Sovaldi pill costs $1,000. A full 12-week course of treatment with this drug costs $84,000. The price of other hepatitis C drugs is also high: Harvoni costs $94,500 for a 12-week treatment Mavyret costs $39,600 for a 12-week treatment Zepatier costs $54,600 for a 12-week treatment Technivie costs $76,653 for a 12-week treatmen…

Jesus how much did these drugs cost to develop? Are these numbers justified?

Drug R&D includes failures - not saying they aren't for profit companies but there is significant cost (in the billions yearly) and risk in running a pharmaceutical research company
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