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Hepatitis C kills more Americans than all other infectious diseases combined

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

#71

Post by tyingq »

georgeplusplus wrote: post #61
tyingq wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"gilead the makers of Harvoni literally made a cure for a previously uncureable disease" No, they acquired Pharmasset, the company that made the cure, for $11.2B. That was a pretty low-risk move. It was already an obvious money maker. "for all the RnD that went into doing that" In the 18 months following Sovaldi’s approval, Medicare alone spent $8.2 billion on the drugs...that doesn't include private insurance paymen…

Wrong. Gilead made Harvoni. Pharmasset made Sovaldi. Is there something that’s supposed to be inherently evil in acquiring a company anyway? Because pharmasset, the smaller company, had forecasted a price of 36000$ for Solvadi. With Gilead buying it out, it was able to reach a third of that price point and that’s a win to me.

Harvoni is a combination of Sofosbuvir (Sovaldi) and Ledipasvir.

Pharmasset discovered Sofosbuvir (Sovaldi), Gilead acquired them in 2011.

Gilead developed Ledipasvir some time after that.

I was contesting the phrase "literally made a cure for a previously uncureable disease". Which is why I called out the acquisition. They literally bought it, not made it.

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

#72

Post by lotsofpulp »

_jal wrote: post #54
georgeplusplus wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s the alternative? This gets tiresome asking because the typically argument is to say “This is crAzYyyy!!!! “ without offering any real solution or input. gilead the makers of Harvoni literally made a cure for a previously uncureable disease, You literally have no respect on a tech site of all places, for all the RnD that went into doing that.

What gets tiresome is this tactic of declaring that since one does not have a fully documented 5-year plan in a binder, one is not allowed to bullshit bullshit. That's bullshit. It is perfectly acceptable to know something is wrong without wishing to extemporaneously perform for you.

It's not perfectly acceptable to "know something is wrong" when one does not understand the parameters of the problem at hand. Stating that you "know something" doesn't mean you know something.

I hear many people "know something" about health insurance premiums rising too much, blaming ACA for what they "know" are unnecessary increases in premiums to line the pockets of the fat cat insurance company executives.

Except they don't "know" that the ACA provided a mechanism for far more people to get healthcare for far more health issues. And since you don't get more of something for free, obviously the costs have to be paid somehow. And if they looked at the numbers, they would see that healthcare cost increases have slowed dramatically since ACA was effected.

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

#73

Post by jki275 »

zwily wrote: post #57
baq wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Basically any other country than US is a better alternative for the patient financially.

How many of these “miracle cures” are developed in the US?

All of them. Then they're sold in the developing world at cut rates, subsidized by the US rates.

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

#74

Post by losvedir »

tyingq wrote: post #48
georgeplusplus wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s the alternative? This gets tiresome asking because the typically argument is to say “This is crAzYyyy!!!! “ without offering any real solution or input. gilead the makers of Harvoni literally made a cure for a previously uncureable disease, You literally have no respect on a tech site of all places, for all the RnD that went into doing that.

"gilead the makers of Harvoni literally made a cure for a previously uncureable disease" No, they acquired Pharmasset, the company that made the cure, for $11.2B. That was a pretty low-risk move. It was already an obvious money maker. "for all the RnD that went into doing that" In the 18 months following Sovaldi’s approval, Medicare alone spent $8.2 billion on the drugs...that doesn't include private insurance paymen…

> No, they acquired Pharmasset, the company that made the cure, for $11.2B. That was a pretty low-risk move. It was already an obvious money maker.

Before I was a software developer I was in equity research, and one of the companies that we covered was Pharmasset. The whole point of these research companies is to find a winner and be acquired.

I get that it's low risk for the acquirer, but without that big payout the research and trials won't get done by the small companies, who won't be able to raise funding, etc.

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

#75

Post by astura »

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"?

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force doesn't roll out any screening programs, their job is simply to make clinical recommendations.

So they are saying to clinicians "if you have a patient between 18 and 80 then current evidence suggests that screening for Hep C is more beneficial than harmful on a large scale, even if the patient has no symptoms." Plus governments would likely use recommendations to base laws around this stuff, something like passing a law that says "insurance companies must cover the cost of Hep C testing even in the absence of symptoms" and military officials may make Hep C screening as a part of a standard military physical.

Of course, I've found most clinicians ignore evidence based recommendations, but that's a different topic entirely....

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

#76

Post by ssorallen »

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"?

I didn’t read this as advocating for everyone to run to get tested immediately. This is more a call to healthcare professionals to advocate for this testing.

One way this can roll out is when sexually active adults who are considered low risk for HepC hopefully do their regular STI screening, either they or their healthcare provider can request a HepC test.

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

#77

Post by koheripbal »

ken wrote: post #53

It looks like the standard blood "Donor Battery" includes anti-HCV, so regular donors are already being screened. Of course, you shouldn't donate blood for the purpose of getting tested for a disease.

There is a question on the blood donation form that asks if you are donating for the purposes of testing yourself.

If you answer yes, then your donation is discarded.

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

#78

Post by thex10 »

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"?

There are more details than merely having injected drugs. Blood transfusions have spread Hep C in hospital settings before widespread knowledge of the disease. Infected mothers can pass it to children through childbirth. The disease wasn't even identified until, what, late 1980s? Meaning that there are people who contracted it before then who may not know.

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

#79

Post by lotsofpulp »

ameister14 wrote: post #67
Cyph0n wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends on your plan. If you’re on a HDHP, chances are that prescriptions are not covered until you hit your deductible.

Even if that's the case, unless your deductible is $40k, which I have never seen before, the insurance would still cover the majority of the cost. Plus if you have chronic Hep C, you're likely spending thousands a year as it is and will continue to do so indefinitely.

Out of pocket maximum is the relevant figure, and that's $8k for individuals and $16k for families:

https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/out-of-pocket-maximum-li...

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

#80

Post by LinuxBender »

This is likely going to be an unpopular question and maybe I m just really naive, but is the protein really so complex to synthesize that a kit could not be made to make a small batch at home? I ask this because I have recently been studying what is required to produce non naturally occurring amino acids and while not trivial, it can be done. Are there not biohackers that figure these things out as a hobby? I know, totally unsafe, but if your only other option is death, then I think such discussions should be on the table. Derivative works so to speak.
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