I was in the waiting room at one of my Onc clinics talking to the receptionist at the window. We were discussing Aranesp. She asked me to wait a few minutes to see the Dr & the PA. I sit down and a patient who obviously overheard me asked if I was the Aranesp rep. I smiled & said yes. She screamed at me that she was on 500mcg and her copay was over $400 and what a horrible person I was driving a fancy company car, etc while raping patients of copays they can't afford. I politely said that there are foundations that help patients who cannot afford their medications. She was so pissed at me and was so rude. The other patients witnessed it as well. Fortunately the receptionist saw it too & called me in shortly afterward. The receptionist said to me that "now you know how we feel" when they get calls from patients who cant afford the drugs that are prescribed to them. I felt bad for the lady but it isn't my fault!
[ QUOTE ] I was in the waiting room at one of my Onc clinics talking to the receptionist at the window. We were discussing Aranesp. She asked me to wait a few minutes to see the Dr & the PA. I sit down and a patient who obviously overheard me asked if I was the Aranesp rep. I smiled & said yes. She screamed at me that she was on 500mcg and her copay was over $400 and what a horrible person I was driving a fancy company car, etc while raping patients of copays they can't afford. I politely said that there are foundations that help patients who cannot afford their medications. She was so pissed at me and was so rude. The other patients witnessed it as well. Fortunately the receptionist saw it too & called me in shortly afterward. The receptionist said to me that "now you know how we feel" when they get calls from patients who cant afford the drugs that are prescribed to them. I felt bad for the lady but it isn't my fault! [/ QUOTE ] After detailing the Q3W info, the Dr I was talking to pulls out his calculator and does some math, & says "you must be nuts if you think i'm going to burden my patients with a copay in excess of $400. So it isn't only the patients who see how high the copay is for that dose.
All of you act like Amgen is the only company that has very expensive drugs. Biotech drugs are the most expensive because of the great costs involved in 'taking a chance', and the years of development just to find that the FDA doesn't approve it. If one out of ten make it, that's a good bet. Gee, that's simple to understand. When you manufacture small molecule drugs, the overall expense (gamble) is not as high. Pharma and bio are two distinct animals, money wise.
Drug and biologicals price ave little to do with the costs of development and manufacture. It is all due to the business model and ROI pursued by big pharma and Biotech. In marketing training seminars computer simulations show that increasing prices results in maximum profit, more so that being "new" or having efficacy claims. Price trumps all! Can anyone show the true value for Xgeva being twice as costly as other options? It doesn't halve bone mets. Very simply its a question of what the market will bear and because there is an inelastic demand for health care, payors are compelled to foot the bill. When was the last time you saw a new drug come out at a lower price than established therapies? Or, did you ever hear of a drug price being reduced because new indications provide a greater sales base?
Your last paragraph shows naivete. When a new model car comes out, they don't discount the price. Same with new/improved TVs such as flat screens. Take a look at computers and other electronics, as well as the always improved/new Ipads, phones, etc.. Starting with a lower price on a new product would get the management fired, for sure.
Can it truly be naivete to consider that health care should not be treated like the electronic trinkets you mentioned. At some level it is wrong to hold peoples lives hostage through egregious business practices. Look at the latest market entries from Bristol and Dendreon. In the case of the latter there is already push-back from CMS. This all will ultimately lead to the establishment of an authority similar to NICE in this country
At this moment, the industry is in a tenuous situation. The government continues to hold a threat over our heads and keep us in a continuous flux. If we get too much of a cut, there will be a [greatly] reduced incentive to spend blind billions on an if come. The end justifies the means. All of biotech is a huge gamble.
You should have told the patient if you think that car is nice, you should see the CEO's jet! Yeaaah!!
Well, I know one thing, it was purchased with shareholder money. I wonder if we have an "autonomous" oversight committee.
