This is crazy. The breast cancer patients covered by Britain's National Health Service will not have Afinitor made available to them - because of the cost. And Novartis' reply? A blow for the patients.
Sorry I am not buying this one. It is a problem for the patients. But the real problem is for the manufacturer.
The UK gave it a cost of 68,000 pounds (>$100,000)/QALY (Quality Adjusted Life Year). Now the QALY is a fancy term but you get the basic idea.
The real problem is the manufacturer is putting all their costs on the backs of the patients again.
I just don't have a lot of sympathy for an industry which is doing quite well full of high salaries, perks, funded research and more. Then they hire all their lawyers and put together all the fancy promotion and packaging and try to justify the high prices they want.
I think it should never be the patient's problem but should go back to the originator - which is the manufacturer here.
1 comment:
What a bunch of crap! Can't believe that once again everything boils down to money, when so many cancer patients, like my personal friend Natalie (read her story here)are already so bloody poor that they have to work full time even while going through chemo! I live in the US and the medical establishment here is just as flawed. Sorry for the vent, but I just hope that one day it'll be the patients' turn to reap the benefits.
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