Life saving drug too expensive

poppyvally · 25-04-2012 11:21PM #1

For certain types of melanoma (skin cancer) there is a new "wonder drug" which actually eliminates this type of cancer. But ...sorry! you can't have it unless you can affford it. Die!..... Sunny Jim dosent care, because we've got to get the books in order!!. Money for special advisers, bonuses to various high earners, but YOU! if you are afflicted with this type of cancer.. F'off & die!! I am not afflicted with this, but my blood is boiling. I am definitley voting ....NO!

Bipolar Joe · 25-04-2012 11:22PM

poppyvally wrote: »

For certain types of melanoma (skin cancer) there is a new "wonder drug" which actually eliminates this type of cancer. But ...sorry! you can't have it unless you can affford it. Die!..... Sunny Jim dosent care, because we've got to get the books in order!!. Money for special advisers, bonuses to various high earners, but YOU! if you are afflicted with this type of cancer.. F'off & die!! I am not afflicted with this, but my blood is boiling. I am definitley voting ....NO!

Was that on purpose?

IsaacWunder · 25-04-2012 11:23PM

Do you have a source?

mackg · 25-04-2012 11:23PM

Vote no to skin cancer!

shopaholic01 · 25-04-2012 11:24PM

Use sunscreen :cool:

The King of Moo · 25-04-2012 11:24PM

Is this just that e-mail that's been forwarded for seemingly the last twenty years with an absurd claim that's been roundly discredited?

You could at least post a link.

Also, Sunny Jim has always been a d*ck, but his sister Sunny Dee is lovely.

Corkfeen · 25-04-2012 11:25PM

I really hate the idea of linking to Joe Duffy but I heard that it was discussed on it.

http://www.rte.ie/radio1/liveline/ - Under drug for cancer....

im invisible · 25-04-2012 11:25PM

poppyvally wrote: »

but my blood is boiling.

you should see someone about that

I am definitley voting ....NO!

on what exactly???

ted1 · 25-04-2012 11:25PM

New drugs cost hundreds of million to develop, they need yo make their money back. What are you voting no on?

jimmycrackcorm · 25-04-2012 11:26PM

poppyvally wrote: »

For certain types of melanoma (skin cancer) there is a new "wonder drug" which actually eliminates this type of cancer. But ...sorry! you can't have it unless you can affford it. Die!..... Sunny Jim dosent care, because we've got to get the books in order!!. Money for special advisers, bonuses to various high earners, but YOU! if you are afflicted with this type of cancer.. F'off & die!! I am not afflicted with this, but my blood is boiling. I am definitley voting ....NO!

Why not just start a whiparound amongst your fellow whingers...

IsaacWunder · 25-04-2012 11:27PM

Is this the drug?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipilimumab

vicwatson · 25-04-2012 11:28PM

Drug in short is known as Ippy - proper name Ipilimumab.

Costs 85,000.00 per patient, Bristol Meyers Squibb are the manufacturers.

Hande hoche! · 25-04-2012 11:28PM

A considerable number of drug patents including viagra are expiring over the next few years. Plus patents act as an incentive for development of new drugs.

My name is URL · 25-04-2012 11:28PM

It's a sad state of affairs but it's the way the world works. If pharmaceutical companies don't pump billions of dollars into research and development, then who will?

xflyer · 25-04-2012 11:31PM

Welcome to the real world. Welcome to the real world where money talks. Welcome to the real world where you find your child has a problem but it's a two year wait for treatment. But when you have money to pay for it, it's a case of 'Will next Monday, do for you sir?'

That's life!

Welcome to my world.

shopaholic01 · 25-04-2012 11:33PM

OP, the Limerick Leader may be interested in your plight

byhookorbycrook · 25-04-2012 11:33PM

There's an oral MS treatment held up in the same way. I know a girl who had to travel to Dublin as there is no neurologist in her area. As she is not within the defined catchment area of the Dublin hospital she cannot get the drug she needs,but there is no-one in her catchment area that can treat her with the drug. Meanwhile she is in and out of hospital with relapses, essentially costing far more than the cost of the drug if she could get it.

I don't see why Viagra gets paid for and this doesn't.

IsaacWunder · 25-04-2012 11:36PM

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

I don't see why Viagra gets paid for and this doesn't.

Maybe it's cheaper than antidepressants?

opinion guy · 25-04-2012 11:40PM

IsaacWunder wrote: »

Maybe it's cheaper than antidepressants?

Maybe treating someone for MS is cheaper than letting it progress even if the drug is expensive ?

themadchef · 25-04-2012 11:41PM

vicwatson wrote: »

Drug in short is known as Ippy - proper name Ipilimumab.

Costs 85,000.00 per patient, Bristol Meyers Squibb are the manufacturers.

Hande hoche! wrote: »

A considerable number of drug patents including viagra are expiring over the next few years. Plus patents act as an incentive for development of new drugs.

The drug cost €85,0000, sure.

Can anyone me the cost of a human life?

Say my brothers life? Or your mother, if she had this cancer... what would that be worth to you?

Thing is, it may not even work. This is the last chance saloon for these people. No more treatment............. Hell of a situation to be in for all families involved and i fell sorry for them because our fúcking government has no problem shoveling money out for advisors on this, that and the other, groups, schemes, and all sorts of crapology. When it comes tothe people, actual people of this country (and from what i heard in the radio there are 200 suffering with this condition who would possible be eligble for treatment) they really couldint care less.

People dying dont have the time to wait for patents to run out, or govenments to make up their minds. They dont have options or choices, or hope, but today they had Joe fúcking Duffy, and i hate Joe

Yes we are broke, but, surely to fúck we should be able to put a few €€ on the table for the dying? Why cant we negotiate with these companies? Where is our Michael o Leary!!!!

fearcruach · 25-04-2012 11:43PM

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

There's an oral MS treatment held up in the same way. I know a girl who had to travel to Dublin as there is no neurologist in her area. As she is not within the defined catchment area of the Dublin hospital she cannot get the drug she needs,but there is no-one in her catchment area that can treat her with the drug. Meanwhile she is in and out of hospital with relapses, essentially costing far more than the cost of the drug if she could get it.

I don't see why Viagra gets paid for and this doesn't.

Erectile dysfunction is a very real and distressing illness. No reason why Viagra wouldn't be paid for. Only four tabs a month are covered as well.

Chuck Stone · 25-04-2012 11:43PM

vicwatson wrote: »

Drug in short is known as Ippy - proper name Ipilimumab.

Costs 85,000.00 per patient, Bristol Meyers Squibb are the manufacturers.

Is that cost justified or is it taking advantage of a monopoly on production?

fearcruach · 25-04-2012 11:46PM

Chuck Stone wrote: »

vicwatson wrote: »

Drug in short is known as Ippy - proper name Ipilimumab.

Costs 85,000.00 per patient, Bristol Meyers Squibb are the manufacturers.

Is that cost justified or is it taking advantage of a monopoly on production?

What would be a justifiable cost? How do you define it? I would imagine if it is a rare enough disease then the cost needs to be high to cover the R and D of the drug which for a biological probably came in over a billion dollars

Chuck Stone · 25-04-2012 11:50PM

fearcruach wrote: »

What would be a justifiable cost? How do you define it?

I have no idea.

I would imagine if it is a rare enough disease then the cost needs to be high to cover the R and D of the drug which for a biological probably came in over a billion dollars

They will have a patent for 20 years (I think) so surely they could recoup multiple of the cost of R&D.

oppenheimer1 · 25-04-2012 11:50PM

themadchef wrote: »

The drug cost €85,0000, sure.

Can anyone me the cost of a human life?

Say my brothers life? Or your mother, if she had this cancer... what would that be worth to you?

Thing is, it may not even work. This is the last chance saloon for these people. No more treatment............. Hell of a situation to be in for all families involved and i fell sorry for them because our fúcking government has no problem shoveling money out for advisors on this, that and the other, groups, schemes, and all sorts of crapology. When it comes tothe people, actual people of this country (and from what i heard in the radio there are 200 suffering with this condition who would possible be eligble for treatment) they really couldint care less.

People dying dont have the time to wait for patents to run out, or govenments to make up their minds. They dont have options or choices, or hope, but today they had Joe fúcking Duffy, and i hate Joe

Yes we are broke, but, surely to fúck we should be able to put a few €€ on the table for the dying? Why cant we negotiate with these companies? Where is our Michael o Leary!!!!

The cost of a human life has been well documented. For a young person to die early it costs society about €1.5m.

Sad and all as it is, these drugs are phenomenally and prohibitively expensive. As skin cancer is the most common cancer in Ireland, making this treatment available on the medical card would cost a fortune, in the tens of millions. Public health has always been about rationing scarce resources to make best use of them - and making priorities. €80,000 might save one life from skin cancer with this wonder drug, but it also might save 20 others suffering from a serious ailment that is less expensive to treat.

In a world and health systems of scarce resources, difficult choices often have to be made to achieve the greater good. Obviously this is difficult to hear for anyone suffering from cancer that could be treated by this drug, but there is no point in sugar coating the truth.

poppyvally · 25-04-2012 11:52PM

Corkfeen wrote: »

I really hate the idea of linking to Joe Duffy but I heard that it was discussed on it.

http://www.rte.ie/radio1/liveline/ - Under drug for cancer....

Thank you Corkfeen I'm not good with the links. I suppose I should have known better than to put such a serious post into a moronic forum.

25-04-2012 11:54PM

Have that cancer research crowd, well the many of them internationally, with their charity status ever done anything useful does anyone know?

eth0 · 25-04-2012 11:55PM

My name is URL wrote: »

It's a sad state of affairs but it's the way the world works. If pharmaceutical companies don't pump billions of dollars into research and development, then who will?

The governments that are currently pumping billions into these companies in the hope that they might spend a bit on research while at the same time creaming off a nice profit for themselves. The Bristol Squib crowd behind this drug made 10bn in 2009

You'd be left to die so a fella slightly richer than you would be tempted to sell everything to pay for this drug only to die a year later from the disease anyway. A bit like the way if you couldn't pay your mortgage the bank would refuse to 'let you off' a part of it because if they did that then your neighbours would feel there's no incentive to pay their mortgage.

So you'd be put out on the street just so your neighbours can feel better about paying their mortgage. It is also the case that there isn't enough money in the system for everyone to pay all their debts. The system we have now relies on a steady supply of 'fall guys' to be put on the street, go bankrupt or be left die not only to motivate others into supporting the system but to actually keep it going at all.

The King of Moo · 25-04-2012 11:55PM

poppyvally wrote: »

Thank you Corkfeen I'm not good with the links. I suppose should have known better than to put such a serious post into a moronic forum.

Serious posts are fine, they just need to have some info for people to go on.

And just because I'm a moron, there's no need to tar all the good folk of this forum with the same brush!

Good day!

My name is URL · 25-04-2012 11:55PM

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

There's an oral MS treatment held up in the same way. I know a girl who had to travel to Dublin as there is no neurologist in her area. As she is not within the defined catchment area of the Dublin hospital she cannot get the drug she needs,but there is no-one in her catchment area that can treat her with the drug. Meanwhile she is in and out of hospital with relapses, essentially costing far more than the cost of the drug if she could get it.

I don't see why Viagra gets paid for and this doesn't.

How do you know it would cost more for her to receive older meds? If she was receiving the breakthrough treatment she'd still need to be kept under observation quite a bit more than she would for more conventional treatments. The cost of the drug being administered is only a small part of the overall cost. With newer treatments there needs to be more extensive checks and clinical observations.

That's why mainly only the more wealthy can avail of them early on. Over time, newly trialled stuff becomes cheaper and more widely available to the population as a whole. If people aren't willing to take risks and invest heavilly in new treatments then they'll never even make it out of the lab.

themadchef · 25-04-2012 11:56PM

oppenheimer1 wrote: »

In a world and health systems of scarce resources, difficult choices often have to be made to achieve the greater good. Obviously this is difficult to hear for anyone suffering from cancer that could be treated by this drug, but there is no point in sugar coating the truth.

This is the spin that cracks me up.

Millions on parking spaces and someones kid dying because we as a country cant affords to pay for that kids cancer treatment?

Please....

Im sick of it.

Life saving drug too expensive

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