Here is James Caruso, the chief commercial officer for drug maker Allos, defending the price of cancer drug Foltyn:
Mr. Caruso also said the price of Folotyn was not out of line with that of other drugs for rare cancers. Patients, moreover, are likely to use the drug for only a couple of months because the tumor worsens so quickly, he said.
In other words, our drug isn't so expensive given how poorly it works.
in the limit we are going to spend 100%-epsilon of our income on treatments to keep ourselves alive.
This sounds like the perfect example for the communist to conflate when arguing that the government should make all our decisions for us.
If we can’t be trusted spending other people’s money to keep us alive for an extra few days, why can we be trusted to buy toys with our own money? We obviously need a government agency to ration end of life health care spending, and to inspect EVERY SINGLE toy sold by retailers.
It is to protect you from yourself. (I think that is mentioned somewhere in Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution, look it up).
Folotyn (Pralatrexate) appears to be just an analogue of methotrexate which is generic and cheap.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pralatrexate
The economics of the end-of-life drug industry can be horrifying at times. You combine price inelasticity of demand with government-mandated monopolies.
An example is Celgene & thalidomide (they call it Thalomid now).
Thalidomide – the same drug that resulted in thousands of deformed babies in the 1950s and 1960s – happens to slow down the development of multiple myeloma, a blood cancer. It can give people an extra 6-36 months of life. There isn’t really anything that’s subsitutable, so demand is highly price inelastic.
Now even though Celgene didn’t discover/invent the drug — that happened decades ago — Celgene has exclusive rights to produce it, through an FDA license. It’s a dangerous drug, you see.
Celgene charges $3000 a month for the drug, and takes in $300m a year in annual revenues on Thalomid alone.
The cost of production is de minimis relative to the price charged.
Do the math.
And people wonder why we pay so much for healthcare.
some small fees. i’m sure they spent a few million on litigation/clinical trials — but the difference is nothing.
endessous,
Celgene doesn’t just make, market, and sell the drug in the typical fashion. The terms of their license requires them to do much more for, and in regard to, each patient allowed to take the drug for multiple myeloma and leprosy. Look up S.T.E.P.S. The FDA simply doesn’t want to see another case of “knuckles at shoulder blades”.
in the limit we are going to spend 100%-epsilon of our income on treatments to keep ourselves alive
Not all of us. I know several people older than 80 who opted to discontinue various medical treatments for various reasons, including pain, I had a good life no need to drag it out, etc.
My grandfather had a disease that runs in my family, and when he was in his mid-80s he decided to stop treatment. He was not depressed and had not given up hope, he just decided that he had had a good life and there was no need to drag it out any longer. I won’t say he died “cheerfully” but he did die contented and at peace.
And although I am not near that age, if I end up in that situation I hope I have the same wisdom and grace to go with dignity. And I want to be the one who decides that.
What is rationality at the end of life?
If I have no children or spouses I don’t see why I wouldn’t spend all of my money on personal comfort and life extension. If I have children or a spouse I would probably try to extend life to the extent that it doesn’t financially hurt them.
Much of this is about the scarcity of money rather than the scarcity of life.
Offer a lifetime supply for a fixed price. Problem solved.
yes so what’s the deal with the multi-dollar tylenol? does the money turn up as pure profit, or does it pay for other things that cost money but that aren’t properly billed for?
$50 for a lab test seems ok reasonable, esp if it pays for the phlebotomist time as well.
@ Jay: Exactly. Just like how the argument that the government should enforce property rights is ripe to be conflated by the fascist who argues that the government should throw potential thieves into detention camps. Therefore we shouldn’t argue for property rights. Q.E.D.
Increased chance of survival isn’t the only reason to take chemotherapy.
Tumors can be very painful and disfiguring as they grow large; not sure if that applies to PTCL.
That said, the CCO’s statement was pretty tone-deaf.
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