(This is long. If you're interested and don't want to read my synopsis, skip directly to the article.)
It's Official! Curing Patients Is Bad for Business
Milton Packer describes the end result of profit-dominated drug development
https://www.medpagetoday.com/blogs/revolutionandrevelation/72407
This is an absolutely fascinating article. It notes that some drugs, particularly those treating cancer or rare diseases, now exceed $1 Million--per SINGLE treatment. These prices don't necessarily hurt the patients receiving them as much as those suffering from, say, diabetes, who are forced to settle for less costly and less effective treatment.
It notes that the better the drug, particularly in the case of infectious diseases, the less sustainable the business model. The company that first marketed the 12-week-treatment cure for Hep C, for example, made billions annually, as of just three years ago. (And no wonder--it charged $94,000 for a 12-week course in the US; nevermind that it charged only $900 in India and probably still profited off that.) Since then, however, the decreasing number of infected patients to spread the virus to uninfected persons has decreased the number of treatable patients and therefore eaten into profits. An effective cure can, over time, put itself out of business.
What's the likely result of this phenomena? One could be that financing to develop cures would become far scarcer. After all, the more effective the cure, the more likely it is to put itself out of business. Another could be that those same potential financiers, while refusing to help with effective cures, would be happy to pony up their millions if only the developer were willing to go with a LESS effective cure. A third option is that, in order to recoup sufficient profits for financiers and stockholders for an effective cure that gradually puts itself out of business, they will charge for that cure at levels we've only dreamed about until now ("dream" meaning nightmare).
This is our reality for so long as healthcare and policy is governed by a massive for-profit industry.
The author's conclusion: "What do these examples teach us? We have not reached the limits of scientific innovation. But we have reached the limits of common sense and common decency."
It's Official! Curing Patients Is Bad for Business
Milton Packer describes the end result of profit-dominated drug development
https://www.medpagetoday.com/blogs/revolutionandrevelation/72407
This is an absolutely fascinating article. It notes that some drugs, particularly those treating cancer or rare diseases, now exceed $1 Million--per SINGLE treatment. These prices don't necessarily hurt the patients receiving them as much as those suffering from, say, diabetes, who are forced to settle for less costly and less effective treatment.
It notes that the better the drug, particularly in the case of infectious diseases, the less sustainable the business model. The company that first marketed the 12-week-treatment cure for Hep C, for example, made billions annually, as of just three years ago. (And no wonder--it charged $94,000 for a 12-week course in the US; nevermind that it charged only $900 in India and probably still profited off that.) Since then, however, the decreasing number of infected patients to spread the virus to uninfected persons has decreased the number of treatable patients and therefore eaten into profits. An effective cure can, over time, put itself out of business.
What's the likely result of this phenomena? One could be that financing to develop cures would become far scarcer. After all, the more effective the cure, the more likely it is to put itself out of business. Another could be that those same potential financiers, while refusing to help with effective cures, would be happy to pony up their millions if only the developer were willing to go with a LESS effective cure. A third option is that, in order to recoup sufficient profits for financiers and stockholders for an effective cure that gradually puts itself out of business, they will charge for that cure at levels we've only dreamed about until now ("dream" meaning nightmare).
This is our reality for so long as healthcare and policy is governed by a massive for-profit industry.
The author's conclusion: "What do these examples teach us? We have not reached the limits of scientific innovation. But we have reached the limits of common sense and common decency."
