There is a competitive product selling for a dollar a pill. Hopefully the sales for this ass wipe’s product will add up to zero and he will enjoy a well deserved bankruptcy.
It’s a compounded product, and there are all sorts of fun rules on dispensing a compounded product when a non-compounded product is readily available…
Hopefully this douche rocket has slept with Charlie Sheen, becomes bankrupt, and then has to scrabble to get enough money for his lifesaving meds…
You know, the really frustrating part about this story is how many people seem to be willing to go after this guy (who is, of course, a giant d-bag), but unwilling to acknowledge the fact that what he’s doing would not be possible in the health system of most other first world countries. You remember how hard Americans fought against meaningful health care reform a few years ago, effectively rendering any real public option impossible? Well this guy is the natural product of the system they fought so hard to preserve. Given how much this story has blown up, I kinda just want to say to the entire country “fix the system or shut the fuck up about it”, because you’re basically blaming the cockroaches for showing up when the kitchen is messy.
Might as well also mention that the TPP attempted (and may have succeeded, haven’t had the time to read through such a long legal document to check) to enhance the capability of pharmaceutical companies to do this sort of thing by strengthening IP laws, including drug patents.
Man, there sure is tons of mileage to be had out of that one photo, isn’t there?
Far better to be regarded as stodgy and dour, I reckon.
there is a special hell for people who price gouge the sick to bolster their opulent lifestyle, and i don’t even believe in hell.
I agree. well said!
[eh, fuck it. don’t care enough.]
I can understand why he doesn’t want to lower the prices though. Actually gaining the title of the Most Hated Man on the Internet is quite an achievement. Competition is fierce.
That’s capitalism for you. Thanks Obama!
It seems like this thing is fairly normal in the land of the free. I’ve just been looking up albendazole and wikipedia infoms me that it cost about 1000x more in the USA as compared to the rest of the world.
Yeah. There’s also Sofosbuvir, which can literally cure Hepatitis C in 12 weeks. In the US a course of it costs $84,000 to $94,000. But at least it’s a cure, rather than a treatment. Of course, I’m sure with the price tag it has, people are going to end up only taking half a course, and are going to evolve Hep C into a nasty even more drug-resistant bug.
To further @mofolotopo’s excellent point about the system being broken: the post points the finger at a rep for saying that price is not a primary determinant of affordability. But the rep is right. The coverage you have is the primary determinant of affordability. If you are taking one tablet a day, the old price was almost $5k. How many Americans who do not have drug coverage can afford to pay $5k a year for pills without huge financial hardship?
Mostly those who don’t have drug coverage were fucked anyway, those who do will have this covered, the price of that coverage will be distributed over the whole system. The price increase is surely taking away access from a small number of people, but much more than that it is looting the healthcare system as a whole. That system is there to be looted, though, this is the tragedy of the commons when a few rich assholes own the commons. And if you think the insurance companies won’t let this happen, they will love this happening. Remember that they basically just take their percentage off of all money flowing through the medical system - higher prices mean higher premiums. They are the house, they don’t lose, and the more we play the more they earn.
With a single-payer system the single-buyer has monopsonistic control to match the seller’s monopolistic control. They have to agree at a reasonable price because otherwise 0 pills get sold.
This guy is a total shitbag. There needs to be a system that doesn’t grant fantastic power to total shitbags to plunder at will.
A classic case of collision between self-interest and communal-interest collide. Of course no such thing ever happens in the pure, untouched world of neoliberal market economy. Reap what you sow (or saw, as I was just about to write).
I save a bit of money, because we have all agreed that making huge profits on devastating illnesses is a noble endeavour, and the consequence of my financial hardship is your superbug…
You are saying this at a time where D Trump might be a Republican front runner for the Presidency. Talking about a system that feeds monsters.
Do Viri become drug-resistant? I ask, as I don’t know, but I don’t think that’s how it works.
And of course the insurance that a goodly number of those people have is medicaid…So this guy is one of the ultimate examples of a “welfare queen.” It would take a huge number of foodstamp frauds to reach the total ammount this guy wants to steal from the taxpayer.
Well, I’m in one of those countries with public healthcare and Hepatitis C patients are fighting for the goverment to cover that kind of treatment because at the cost the company gives to the public healthcare system, they have decided is not cost effective.
Which may very well be the case given that the fucking austerity craziness has put us in to “is either cure your hepatitis for sure or paying for somebody to clean the hospital so…” mode, but … I have the impression the root of the problem is the whole medicine research seen as a way for profits instead of a necessary public service.
It goes like this:
- ISIS.
- Danny Pharma-douche.
- People who make vertical videos. (I’m looking directly at you, Josh Feuerstein. People think you’re holier-than-thou dollar store philosophizing is why they hate you. It’s really the vertical video.)
- The police and the NSA. (Ironically, I think the Internet generally has positive feelings towards The Police.)
- Copyright trollies.
- iTunes.
Sadly, I think a lot of people are looking at this and thinking, “Well, people hate him and there’s a competitor trying to undercut him. The system works!”
Ask your insurance provider about Albendusover™.
Not to piss you off more than you already are, but France and Germany have their healthcare programs paying half what it costs in the US. What I really, really, want to know is how much this drug costs in R&D. Parmacuetical companies can spend a lot of money bringing a drug to market, which I concede. Yet they’re very shy about giving specific figures for specific drugs. Actually, the pipeline price to produce it is very low, and they could probably recoup a significant profit at a lower price. The problem is that in the current drug market, you’re increasingly seeing pharmaceutical prices interpreted as a function of market value. If it’s a drug that will save your life or substantially improve your long-term prognosis, they feel that they can charge whatever they want. What will the market bear?
My mom has been following the development of the new Hep meds since they were in trials and we are still flailing around trying to find any avenue to get her those drugs.
She tried Interferon but because she’s bipolar it gave her psychotic episodes on top of all the awful physical side effects. She stopped taking it when my grandmother had another small stroke and mom couldn’t handle everything at once.
We’re pretty sure eventually one of the assistance/ charity routes will pan out but it is a long and messed up road.
Drug prices are a really raw nerve for us now.
