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The FDA has approved a new drug for Alzheimer's disease, while not a cure it is supposed to slow the decline. Even though data is not entirely positive or straight forward in its interpretation or that it will actually even work as thought.
But if you have it then you are probably desperate enough to try almost anything that claims to work, until you get to the price tag of $56,000 per year. That will probably make it out of reach for most people, it's doubtful if any insurance will cover something like this. Perhaps you can just forget to pay the bill, they might understand due to your condition.
Biogen CEO Michel Vounatsos [...][said] he thought the drug's price was "fair" but also vowed that the company would not hike its price for four years.
Previously:
In Surprise Turnaround, Biogen to Submit Previously Failed Alzheimer Drug for Approval
Disputed Alzheimer's Study Links Decrease in Amyloid Levels to Reduction in Cognitive Decline
Positive Result in Mice as Alzheimer's Drug Trials Fail and Regulatory Barriers Are Rolled Back
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 09 2021, @07:26PM (10 children)
Charging what the market will bear without meaningful competition leads to robber barons.
History decided that this was a bad idea and added regulation to price at cost plus a reasonable profit.
Without meaningful competition, drug pricing according to benefit is just a nice way of saying what the market will bear.
Only it is worse with drugs. Instead of a railroad taking your money or not hauling your stuff, it's your money or your life.
Even in the afterglow of the miracle of Covid vaccines, this story reminds us we still need a better funding strategy for drugs.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday June 09 2021, @09:06PM (9 children)
What does "pricing" even mean? Guy had a heart attack, and they put stents in his heart. He has to take blood thinners, and a specific brand was prescribed. Market price was well over $500 for a one month supply - roughly $10/pill. Insurance brought that down to about $200. Hospital offered a coupon from the manufacturer which meant that the medicine was free to the recipient.
If that stuff costs $500 for sixty pills, then WTF are they distributing coupons to reduce the price by 40% or more?
It's hard for me to believe that it costs the manufacturer even $1 to produce them. The whole pricing scheme is flawed and corrupt.
And, we wonder where the Shkirelli creatures come from. People like that make me wonder why I oppose abortion.
(Score: 2) by Beryllium Sphere (r) on Wednesday June 09 2021, @09:25PM (5 children)
Big Pharma says it's to pay for the R&D but (haven't checked this) I've read that they spend more on marketing.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday June 09 2021, @09:59PM (4 children)
A couple quick searches gave me these:
https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/01/healthcare-industry-spends-30b-on-marketing-most-of-it-goes-to-doctors/ [arstechnica.com]
https://www.prescouter.com/2019/06/pharmaceutical-rd-global-spending-trends-in-2019/ [prescouter.com]
So, 20 billion for advertising, vs 165 billion for R&D. No indication of lobbying and campaign donation costs.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 09 2021, @10:12PM
Oh Noes! Moar Runaway Education? Lord save us!
(Score: 2) by Beryllium Sphere (r) on Thursday June 10 2021, @12:11AM
Thank you.
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Thursday June 10 2021, @11:33AM
Interesting post
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 11 2021, @09:41PM
A couple of problems here. You are comparing only the amount of money spent only on wooing doctors in the US while leaving out all other marketing activities worldwide to total worldwide R&D both public and private.
But where the money has really gone for huge pharmacology corporations is to stock buybacks. There are a number of articles on that and a recent clip of CEOs getting grilled over where their money goes by a congresswoman a few days ago.
(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Thursday June 10 2021, @07:07AM (2 children)
Perhaps it cost the manufacturer $1 to produce them. How much did it cost to do the research and set up all the infrastructure to start producing them? And unless all of the initial investors were funding the endeavor solely out of benevolence, they're going to want a return on their investment, or they wouldn't have invested in the life saving treatment one would be receiving; they may have invested in improved construction technology instead. Good for home owners, bad for you dying.
We are far from post scarcity, so we need some way to distribute resources efficiently. We could go the socialist planned economy route, but history has shown that for all its faults, a free market works way more efficiently. And so here we are.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday June 10 2021, @03:09PM (1 child)
Return on investment is understandable. R&D expense, ditto. So, why all the silly games? Why do they need that whole discount and coupon nonsense? Why spend 30 billion on pushing the drugs? People are going to come for life saving drugs when the life saving drugs are needed, no adverts needed.
It's nothing more than a carnival side show. I put three, six, twelve, or sixty cups upside down on the table, put a prize under one. If you can keep up with the sleight of hand, you can claim the prize. Careful now, pay close attention to the rules that I make up as we go!!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 10 2021, @04:13PM
The discount and coupon sideshow is all about regulation. In specific, Medicare pricing. There's all sorts of rules about what they have to do for medicare drugs (a very big chunk of the market they definitely want to be eligible for) that are very poorly designed. In the end, it pretty much requires them to play these sorts of games if they want to actually be profitable.
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 09 2021, @07:44PM (2 children)
Civil servants with gold-plated insurance plans... plans that were approved by politicians who own pharma stock... stock in companies that 'contribute' to politician's campaign funds. The only surprising thing is that the LGBTQ crew hasn't found a way to get their slice yet.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 09 2021, @07:50PM
>> the LGBTQ crew hasn't found a way to get their slice yet.
Gender-reassignment surgery is covered by the same insurance plans, so they can get their slice.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 09 2021, @07:58PM
I find your suggestion that there might be a conflict of interest between the government and the pharmaceutical industry to be a dangerous anti-science right-wing conspiracy. Now shut up and do what I say.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by looorg on Wednesday June 09 2021, @08:08PM (2 children)
I guess there was a few things about this piece of news that I found weird, or interesting. One was that they are approving a treatment that seem to have very sketchy data and that it might not even actually work. The previous submissions seem to indicate as much (thanks for including them!). Then it's that the CEO though that $56k (a sum far above the average income, plus then you also have to pay for all the other things in life that are not drug related) a year is a "fair" price for a drug for a disease that you can't really help getting, as far as I know. But at least that can be easily explained as in he wants his money back or get rich(er). He did promise not to hike the price for four years, I guess we don't have to worry about the price actually being lower.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday June 09 2021, @08:23PM (1 child)
Would someone suffering from Alzheimer's remember that the data is very sketchy?
Or remember the promise not to hike the price for years?
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 2) by stretch611 on Thursday June 10 2021, @04:05AM
Well, if the drug fails to work, the people taking it will forget to pay for it (or forget to refill it.)
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 2, Funny) by Taxi Dudinous on Wednesday June 09 2021, @08:24PM
Threatment?
You're scaring my Gramma!
What did she ever do to you?
(Score: 4, Interesting) by pdfernhout on Thursday June 10 2021, @02:37AM
Top hits DDG searching on "alzheimer's sleep nutrition":
https://nutritionreview.org/2019/01/sleep-deprivation-accelerates-alzheimers-brain-damage/ [nutritionreview.org]
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30413973/ [nih.gov]
"Certain aspects of nutrition can decrease risk for dementia. Physical activity has also been associated with delayed or slower age-related cognitive decline. In addition, emerging evidence links sleep dysfunction and dementia, with amyloid deposition being a possible mediator. Data from further clinical trials are needed before more definitive conclusions can be drawn regarding the efficacy of these lifestyle interventions for lowering the risk of incident dementia and cognitive decline. Nevertheless, it is reasonable to make recommendations to our patients to adopt certain dietary changes and to engage in regular physical activity to improve cardiovascular risk factors for dementia. It is also reasonable to include questions on sleep during cognitive evaluations of the elderly, given the common co-occurrence of sleep dysfunction and cognitive impairment in the elderly population."
And searching on the MEND protocol I'd previously heard of:
https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/memory-loss-associated-with-alzheimers-reversed-for-first-time [ucla.edu]
"Memory loss associated with Alzheimer’s reversed for first time: Small trial by UCLA and Buck Institute succeeds using ‘systems approach’ to memory disorders"
"The End of Alzheimer's Program: The First Protocol to Enhance Cognition and Reverse Decline at Any Age"
https://www.amazon.com/End-Alzheimers-Program-Protocol-Cognition/dp/0525538496 [amazon.com]
From the UCLA item:
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“The existing Alzheimer’s drugs affect a single target, but Alzheimer’s disease is more complex. Imagine having a roof with 36 holes in it, and your drug patched one hole very well,” he said. “The drug may have worked, and a single hole may have been fixed, but you still have 35 other leaks, and so the underlying process may not be affected much.”
Bredesen’s approach is personalized to the patient, based on extensive testing to determine what is affecting the brain’s plasticity signaling network. In the case of the patient with the demanding job who was forgetting her way home, her therapy consisted of some, but not all, of the components of Bredesen’s program, including:
eliminating all simple carbohydrates, gluten and processed food from her diet, and eating more vegetables, fruits and non-farmed fish
meditating twice a day and beginning yoga to reduce stress
sleeping seven to eight hours per night, up from four to five
taking melatonin, methylcobalamin, vitamin D3, fish oil and coenzyme Q10 each day
optimizing oral hygiene using an electric flosser and electric toothbrush
reinstating hormone replacement therapy, which had previously been discontinued
fasting for a minimum of 12 hours between dinner and breakfast, and for a minimum of three hours between dinner and bedtime
exercising for a minimum of 30 minutes, four to six days per week
Bredesen said the program’s downsides are its complexity and that the burden falls on patients and caregivers to follow it. In the study, none of the patients was able to stick to the entire protocol. Their most common complaints were the diet and lifestyle changes, and having to take multiple pills each day.
The good news, though, said Bredesen, are the side effects: “It is noteworthy that the major side effects of this therapeutic system are improved health and an improved body mass index, a stark contrast to the side effects of many drugs.”
The results suggest that memory loss may be reversed and improvement sustained with the therapeutic program, but Bredesen cautioned that the results need to be replicated.
“The current, anecdotal results require a larger trial, not only to confirm or refute the results reported here, but also to address key questions raised, such as the degree of improvement that can be achieved routinely, how late in the course of cognitive decline reversal can be effected, whether such an approach may be effective in patients with familial Alzheimer’s disease, and last, how long improvement can be sustained,” he said.
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I've also seen comments about people sensitive to mold (given tighter houses). Also, consider that pesticides were developed from nerve gas...
Given you are going to be exposed to some toxins no matter what you do, at least you can give yourself a fighting chance by optimizing yoru health by good nutrition and good sleep and exercise and so on. Related:
"Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead" (and its sequel)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1z5WjjVL5c [youtube.com]
"Overweight, loaded up on steroids and suffering from a debilitating autoimmune disease, Joe Cross was at the end of his rope and the end of his hope. With doctors and conventional medicine unable to help, Joe traded in junk food and hit the road with a juicer and generator in tow, vowing only to drink fresh fruit and vegetable juice for 60 days. Across 3,000 miles Joe had one goal in mind: To get off his pills and achieve a balanced lifestyle."
The biggest challenge of the 21st century: the irony of technologies of abundance used by scarcity-minded people.
(Score: 1) by js290 on Thursday June 10 2021, @09:45PM