| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"daves" |
| Date: |
11 Mar 2006 02:30:54 PM |
| Object: |
Company raises price of 60-year-old cancer drug by 607%, stunning doctors |
New York Times
March 12, 2006
A Cancer Drug's Big Price Rise Disturbs Doctors and Patients
By ALEX BERENSON
On Feb. 3, Joyce Elkins filled a prescription for a two-week supply of
nitrogen mustard, a decades-old cancer drug used to treat a rare form
of lymphoma. The cost was $77.50.
On Feb. 17, Ms. Elkins, a 64-year-old retiree who lives in Georgetown,
Tex., returned to her pharmacy for a refill. This time, following a
huge increase in the wholesale price of the drug, the cost was
$548.01.
Ms. Elkins's insurance does not cover nitrogen mustard, which she must
take for at least the next six months, at a cost that will now total
nearly $7,000. She and her husband, who works for the Texas Department
of Transportation, are paying for the medicine by spending less on
utilities and food, she said.
The increase has stunned doctors, who say it starkly illustrates two
trends in the pharmaceutical industry: The soaring price of cancer
medicines and the tendency for those prices to have little relation to
the cost of developing or making the drugs.
Genentech, for example, has indicated it will effectively double the
price of its colon cancer drug Avastin, to about $100,000, when
Avastin's use is expanded to breast and lung cancer patients. As with
Avastin, nothing about nitrogen mustard is changing but the price.
"Nitrogen mustard has been around forever," said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld,
the deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society.
"There's nothing that I am aware of in the treatment environment that
I am aware of that would explain an increase in the cost of the drug."
Nitrogen mustard, also known as Mustargen, was developed more than 60
years ago and is among the oldest chemotherapy drugs. For decades, it
has been blended into an ointment by pharmacists and used as a topical
treatment for a cancer called cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, a rare form
of cancer that mainly affects the skin.
And once a company sets a price, government agencies, private
insurers, and patients have little choice but to pay it. The Food &
Drug Administration does not regulate prices, and Medicare is banned
from considering price in deciding whether to cover treatments.
<snip>
Many patients who rely on expensive drugs are stuck in a bind. Don
Schare of Saratoga, Calif., said he paid $1,260 last month for 200
grams of nitrogen mustard cream, about 10 times what he paid for his
prior prescription. Mr. Schare, 69, said he was covered by the new
Medicare Part D drug program as well as supplemental insurance from
AARP, but that neither of his plans covered Mustargen.
"It's an obscene gesture on the company's part to raise something by a
factor of 10," Mr. Schare said.
Jeffrey Malavasic, 58, a retired railroad worker in Florence, Ore.,
said he had decided to fill only half of his Mustargen prescription
when he learned of the price increase. He used the drug sparingly in
the past and will be even more frugal, he said...
.
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| User: "Joe S." |
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| Title: Re: Company raises price of 60-year-old cancer drug by 607%, stunning doctors |
11 Mar 2006 02:57:34 PM |
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"daves" <daves@ae45t.be> wrote in message
news:jqc6129lrlirjehrsob6vn6m8cpdktq2gv@4ax.com...
New York Times
March 12, 2006
A Cancer Drug's Big Price Rise Disturbs Doctors and Patients
By ALEX BERENSON
On Feb. 3, Joyce Elkins filled a prescription for a two-week supply of
nitrogen mustard, a decades-old cancer drug used to treat a rare form
of lymphoma. The cost was $77.50.
On Feb. 17, Ms. Elkins, a 64-year-old retiree who lives in Georgetown,
Tex., returned to her pharmacy for a refill. This time, following a
huge increase in the wholesale price of the drug, the cost was
$548.01.
Ms. Elkins's insurance does not cover nitrogen mustard, which she must
take for at least the next six months, at a cost that will now total
nearly $7,000. She and her husband, who works for the Texas Department
of Transportation, are paying for the medicine by spending less on
utilities and food, she said.
The increase has stunned doctors, who say it starkly illustrates two
trends in the pharmaceutical industry: The soaring price of cancer
medicines and the tendency for those prices to have little relation to
the cost of developing or making the drugs.
Genentech, for example, has indicated it will effectively double the
price of its colon cancer drug Avastin, to about $100,000, when
Avastin's use is expanded to breast and lung cancer patients. As with
Avastin, nothing about nitrogen mustard is changing but the price.
"Nitrogen mustard has been around forever," said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld,
the deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society.
"There's nothing that I am aware of in the treatment environment that
I am aware of that would explain an increase in the cost of the drug."
Nitrogen mustard, also known as Mustargen, was developed more than 60
years ago and is among the oldest chemotherapy drugs. For decades, it
has been blended into an ointment by pharmacists and used as a topical
treatment for a cancer called cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, a rare form
of cancer that mainly affects the skin.
And once a company sets a price, government agencies, private
insurers, and patients have little choice but to pay it. The Food &
Drug Administration does not regulate prices, and Medicare is banned
from considering price in deciding whether to cover treatments.
<snip>
Many patients who rely on expensive drugs are stuck in a bind. Don
Schare of Saratoga, Calif., said he paid $1,260 last month for 200
grams of nitrogen mustard cream, about 10 times what he paid for his
prior prescription. Mr. Schare, 69, said he was covered by the new
Medicare Part D drug program as well as supplemental insurance from
AARP, but that neither of his plans covered Mustargen.
"It's an obscene gesture on the company's part to raise something by a
factor of 10," Mr. Schare said.
Jeffrey Malavasic, 58, a retired railroad worker in Florence, Ore.,
said he had decided to fill only half of his Mustargen prescription
when he learned of the price increase. He used the drug sparingly in
the past and will be even more frugal, he said...
Keep it up. Pharmaceutical companies pulling ***** like this. HMO's, PPO's,
and all the other private bureaucracies that physicians and insurance
companies have set up to increase profits and screw patients. Keep it up
and before long we will shed the Republicans who are on their payroll and
then the federal guvmint will take over health care. Not that that's the
best thing, but, the private sector is just begging for it to happen -- and
this is another step in that direction.
.
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| User: "Doogie Howitzer" |
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| Title: Re: Company raises price of 60-year-old cancer drug by 607%, stunning doctors |
11 Mar 2006 05:47:35 PM |
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On Sat, 11 Mar 2006 12:57:34 -0800, Joe S. wrote
(in message <bZ6dnc0Q76o0pI7ZRVn-pQ@comcast.com>):
"daves" <daves@ae45t.be> wrote in message
news:jqc6129lrlirjehrsob6vn6m8cpdktq2gv@4ax.com...
New York Times
March 12, 2006
A Cancer Drug's Big Price Rise Disturbs Doctors and Patients
By ALEX BERENSON
On Feb. 3, Joyce Elkins filled a prescription for a two-week supply of
nitrogen mustard, a decades-old cancer drug used to treat a rare form
of lymphoma. The cost was $77.50.
On Feb. 17, Ms. Elkins, a 64-year-old retiree who lives in Georgetown,
Tex., returned to her pharmacy for a refill. This time, following a
huge increase in the wholesale price of the drug, the cost was
$548.01.
Ms. Elkins's insurance does not cover nitrogen mustard, which she must
take for at least the next six months, at a cost that will now total
nearly $7,000. She and her husband, who works for the Texas Department
of Transportation, are paying for the medicine by spending less on
utilities and food, she said.
This should scare Americants 10-fold over terrorism...
The increase has stunned doctors, who say it starkly illustrates two
trends in the pharmaceutical industry: The soaring price of cancer
medicines and the tendency for those prices to have little relation to
the cost of developing or making the drugs.
Genentech, for example, has indicated it will effectively double the
price of its colon cancer drug Avastin, to about $100,000, when
Avastin's use is expanded to breast and lung cancer patients. As with
Avastin, nothing about nitrogen mustard is changing but the price.
"Nitrogen mustard has been around forever," said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld,
the deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society.
"There's nothing that I am aware of in the treatment environment that
I am aware of that would explain an increase in the cost of the drug."
Nitrogen mustard, also known as Mustargen, was developed more than 60
years ago and is among the oldest chemotherapy drugs. For decades, it
has been blended into an ointment by pharmacists and used as a topical
treatment for a cancer called cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, a rare form
of cancer that mainly affects the skin.
And once a company sets a price, government agencies, private
insurers, and patients have little choice but to pay it. The Food &
Drug Administration does not regulate prices, and Medicare is banned
from considering price in deciding whether to cover treatments.
<snip>
Many patients who rely on expensive drugs are stuck in a bind. Don
Schare of Saratoga, Calif., said he paid $1,260 last month for 200
grams of nitrogen mustard cream, about 10 times what he paid for his
prior prescription. Mr. Schare, 69, said he was covered by the new
Medicare Part D drug program as well as supplemental insurance from
AARP, but that neither of his plans covered Mustargen.
"It's an obscene gesture on the company's part to raise something by a
factor of 10," Mr. Schare said.
Jeffrey Malavasic, 58, a retired railroad worker in Florence, Ore.,
said he had decided to fill only half of his Mustargen prescription
when he learned of the price increase. He used the drug sparingly in
the past and will be even more frugal, he said...
Keep it up. Pharmaceutical companies pulling ***** like this. HMO's, PPO's,
and all the other private bureaucracies that physicians and insurance
companies have set up to increase profits and screw patients. Keep it up
and before long we will shed the Republicans who are on their payroll and
then the federal guvmint will take over health care. Not that that's the
best thing, but, the private sector is just begging for it to happen -- and
this is another step in that direction.
--
A vote for a Democrat is a vote for Impeachment, before The USA implodes.
Dummya likes them implosions, keeps them (red state) terrorists in line...
.
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| User: "ZenIsWhen" |
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| Title: Re: Company raises price of 60-year-old cancer drug by 607%, stunning doctors |
12 Mar 2006 05:02:58 AM |
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"daves" <daves@ae45t.be> wrote in message
news:jqc6129lrlirjehrsob6vn6m8cpdktq2gv@4ax.com...
New York Times
March 12, 2006
A Cancer Drug's Big Price Rise Disturbs Doctors and Patients
By ALEX BERENSON
On Feb. 3, Joyce Elkins filled a prescription for a two-week supply of
nitrogen mustard, a decades-old cancer drug used to treat a rare form
of lymphoma. The cost was $77.50.
On Feb. 17, Ms. Elkins, a 64-year-old retiree who lives in Georgetown,
Tex., returned to her pharmacy for a refill. This time, following a
huge increase in the wholesale price of the drug, the cost was
$548.01.
Ms. Elkins's insurance does not cover nitrogen mustard, which she must
take for at least the next six months, at a cost that will now total
nearly $7,000. She and her husband, who works for the Texas Department
of Transportation, are paying for the medicine by spending less on
utilities and food, she said.
The increase has stunned doctors, who say it starkly illustrates two
trends in the pharmaceutical industry: The soaring price of cancer
medicines and the tendency for those prices to have little relation to
the cost of developing or making the drugs.
Genentech, for example, has indicated it will effectively double the
price of its colon cancer drug Avastin, to about $100,000, when
Avastin's use is expanded to breast and lung cancer patients. As with
Avastin, nothing about nitrogen mustard is changing but the price.
"Nitrogen mustard has been around forever," said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld,
the deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society.
"There's nothing that I am aware of in the treatment environment that
I am aware of that would explain an increase in the cost of the drug."
Nitrogen mustard, also known as Mustargen, was developed more than 60
years ago and is among the oldest chemotherapy drugs. For decades, it
has been blended into an ointment by pharmacists and used as a topical
treatment for a cancer called cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, a rare form
of cancer that mainly affects the skin.
And once a company sets a price, government agencies, private
insurers, and patients have little choice but to pay it. The Food &
Drug Administration does not regulate prices, and Medicare is banned
from considering price in deciding whether to cover treatments.
<snip>
Many patients who rely on expensive drugs are stuck in a bind. Don
Schare of Saratoga, Calif., said he paid $1,260 last month for 200
grams of nitrogen mustard cream, about 10 times what he paid for his
prior prescription. Mr. Schare, 69, said he was covered by the new
Medicare Part D drug program as well as supplemental insurance from
AARP, but that neither of his plans covered Mustargen.
"It's an obscene gesture on the company's part to raise something by a
factor of 10," Mr. Schare said.
Jeffrey Malavasic, 58, a retired railroad worker in Florence, Ore.,
said he had decided to fill only half of his Mustargen prescription
when he learned of the price increase. He used the drug sparingly in
the past and will be even more frugal, he said...
Thanks, again, to George Bush and the Compassionate Conservative
republicans.
It's because of their words, actions anad laws that companies have the balls
to do this!
.
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| User: "Adam Russell" |
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| Title: Re: Company raises price of 60-year-old cancer drug by 607%, stunning doctors |
11 Mar 2006 03:16:41 PM |
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How long can a company hold patent on a drug? I thought it was only like 10
years.
"daves" <daves@ae45t.be> wrote in message
news:jqc6129lrlirjehrsob6vn6m8cpdktq2gv@4ax.com...
New York Times
March 12, 2006
A Cancer Drug's Big Price Rise Disturbs Doctors and Patients
By ALEX BERENSON
On Feb. 3, Joyce Elkins filled a prescription for a two-week supply of
nitrogen mustard, a decades-old cancer drug used to treat a rare form
of lymphoma. The cost was $77.50.
On Feb. 17, Ms. Elkins, a 64-year-old retiree who lives in Georgetown,
Tex., returned to her pharmacy for a refill. This time, following a
huge increase in the wholesale price of the drug, the cost was
$548.01.
Ms. Elkins's insurance does not cover nitrogen mustard, which she must
take for at least the next six months, at a cost that will now total
nearly $7,000. She and her husband, who works for the Texas Department
of Transportation, are paying for the medicine by spending less on
utilities and food, she said.
The increase has stunned doctors, who say it starkly illustrates two
trends in the pharmaceutical industry: The soaring price of cancer
medicines and the tendency for those prices to have little relation to
the cost of developing or making the drugs.
Genentech, for example, has indicated it will effectively double the
price of its colon cancer drug Avastin, to about $100,000, when
Avastin's use is expanded to breast and lung cancer patients. As with
Avastin, nothing about nitrogen mustard is changing but the price.
"Nitrogen mustard has been around forever," said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld,
the deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society.
"There's nothing that I am aware of in the treatment environment that
I am aware of that would explain an increase in the cost of the drug."
Nitrogen mustard, also known as Mustargen, was developed more than 60
years ago and is among the oldest chemotherapy drugs. For decades, it
has been blended into an ointment by pharmacists and used as a topical
treatment for a cancer called cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, a rare form
of cancer that mainly affects the skin.
And once a company sets a price, government agencies, private
insurers, and patients have little choice but to pay it. The Food &
Drug Administration does not regulate prices, and Medicare is banned
from considering price in deciding whether to cover treatments.
<snip>
Many patients who rely on expensive drugs are stuck in a bind. Don
Schare of Saratoga, Calif., said he paid $1,260 last month for 200
grams of nitrogen mustard cream, about 10 times what he paid for his
prior prescription. Mr. Schare, 69, said he was covered by the new
Medicare Part D drug program as well as supplemental insurance from
AARP, but that neither of his plans covered Mustargen.
"It's an obscene gesture on the company's part to raise something by a
factor of 10," Mr. Schare said.
Jeffrey Malavasic, 58, a retired railroad worker in Florence, Ore.,
said he had decided to fill only half of his Mustargen prescription
when he learned of the price increase. He used the drug sparingly in
the past and will be even more frugal, he said...
.
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| User: "Larry Hewitt" |
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| Title: Re: Company raises price of 60-year-old cancer drug by 607%, stunning doctors |
11 Mar 2006 05:11:26 PM |
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Repuglicons extended the lide of a patent in 1995 to 20 years.
They also chnged patent laws allowng patents to be renewed virtually forever
a the patentees request. All they have to do is fill out the paperwork and
pa a small fee.
Larry
"Adam Russell" <adamrussell@sbcglobal.net.invalid> wrote in message
news:47gspqFfcqpjU1@individual.net...
How long can a company hold patent on a drug? I thought it was only like
10
years.
"daves" <daves@ae45t.be> wrote in message
news:jqc6129lrlirjehrsob6vn6m8cpdktq2gv@4ax.com...
New York Times
March 12, 2006
A Cancer Drug's Big Price Rise Disturbs Doctors and Patients
By ALEX BERENSON
On Feb. 3, Joyce Elkins filled a prescription for a two-week supply of
nitrogen mustard, a decades-old cancer drug used to treat a rare form
of lymphoma. The cost was $77.50.
On Feb. 17, Ms. Elkins, a 64-year-old retiree who lives in Georgetown,
Tex., returned to her pharmacy for a refill. This time, following a
huge increase in the wholesale price of the drug, the cost was
$548.01.
Ms. Elkins's insurance does not cover nitrogen mustard, which she must
take for at least the next six months, at a cost that will now total
nearly $7,000. She and her husband, who works for the Texas Department
of Transportation, are paying for the medicine by spending less on
utilities and food, she said.
The increase has stunned doctors, who say it starkly illustrates two
trends in the pharmaceutical industry: The soaring price of cancer
medicines and the tendency for those prices to have little relation to
the cost of developing or making the drugs.
Genentech, for example, has indicated it will effectively double the
price of its colon cancer drug Avastin, to about $100,000, when
Avastin's use is expanded to breast and lung cancer patients. As with
Avastin, nothing about nitrogen mustard is changing but the price.
"Nitrogen mustard has been around forever," said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld,
the deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society.
"There's nothing that I am aware of in the treatment environment that
I am aware of that would explain an increase in the cost of the drug."
Nitrogen mustard, also known as Mustargen, was developed more than 60
years ago and is among the oldest chemotherapy drugs. For decades, it
has been blended into an ointment by pharmacists and used as a topical
treatment for a cancer called cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, a rare form
of cancer that mainly affects the skin.
And once a company sets a price, government agencies, private
insurers, and patients have little choice but to pay it. The Food &
Drug Administration does not regulate prices, and Medicare is banned
from considering price in deciding whether to cover treatments.
<snip>
Many patients who rely on expensive drugs are stuck in a bind. Don
Schare of Saratoga, Calif., said he paid $1,260 last month for 200
grams of nitrogen mustard cream, about 10 times what he paid for his
prior prescription. Mr. Schare, 69, said he was covered by the new
Medicare Part D drug program as well as supplemental insurance from
AARP, but that neither of his plans covered Mustargen.
"It's an obscene gesture on the company's part to raise something by a
factor of 10," Mr. Schare said.
Jeffrey Malavasic, 58, a retired railroad worker in Florence, Ore.,
said he had decided to fill only half of his Mustargen prescription
when he learned of the price increase. He used the drug sparingly in
the past and will be even more frugal, he said...
.
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| User: "Ray Gordon" |
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| Title: Re: Company raises price of 60-year-old cancer drug by 607%, stunning doctors |
13 Mar 2006 03:22:28 AM |
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This makes no sense.
If the patent has expired on this drug, a generic company could step in and
make a killing by offering it at the old price or something slightly higher.
The only thing that would stop this is price-fixing, and that can be
sanctioned by the government.
This does not add up.
"daves" <daves@ae45t.be> wrote in message
news:jqc6129lrlirjehrsob6vn6m8cpdktq2gv@4ax.com...
New York Times
March 12, 2006
A Cancer Drug's Big Price Rise Disturbs Doctors and Patients
By ALEX BERENSON
On Feb. 3, Joyce Elkins filled a prescription for a two-week supply of
nitrogen mustard, a decades-old cancer drug used to treat a rare form
of lymphoma. The cost was $77.50.
On Feb. 17, Ms. Elkins, a 64-year-old retiree who lives in Georgetown,
Tex., returned to her pharmacy for a refill. This time, following a
huge increase in the wholesale price of the drug, the cost was
$548.01.
Ms. Elkins's insurance does not cover nitrogen mustard, which she must
take for at least the next six months, at a cost that will now total
nearly $7,000. She and her husband, who works for the Texas Department
of Transportation, are paying for the medicine by spending less on
utilities and food, she said.
The increase has stunned doctors, who say it starkly illustrates two
trends in the pharmaceutical industry: The soaring price of cancer
medicines and the tendency for those prices to have little relation to
the cost of developing or making the drugs.
Genentech, for example, has indicated it will effectively double the
price of its colon cancer drug Avastin, to about $100,000, when
Avastin's use is expanded to breast and lung cancer patients. As with
Avastin, nothing about nitrogen mustard is changing but the price.
"Nitrogen mustard has been around forever," said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld,
the deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society.
"There's nothing that I am aware of in the treatment environment that
I am aware of that would explain an increase in the cost of the drug."
Nitrogen mustard, also known as Mustargen, was developed more than 60
years ago and is among the oldest chemotherapy drugs. For decades, it
has been blended into an ointment by pharmacists and used as a topical
treatment for a cancer called cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, a rare form
of cancer that mainly affects the skin.
And once a company sets a price, government agencies, private
insurers, and patients have little choice but to pay it. The Food &
Drug Administration does not regulate prices, and Medicare is banned
from considering price in deciding whether to cover treatments.
<snip>
Many patients who rely on expensive drugs are stuck in a bind. Don
Schare of Saratoga, Calif., said he paid $1,260 last month for 200
grams of nitrogen mustard cream, about 10 times what he paid for his
prior prescription. Mr. Schare, 69, said he was covered by the new
Medicare Part D drug program as well as supplemental insurance from
AARP, but that neither of his plans covered Mustargen.
"It's an obscene gesture on the company's part to raise something by a
factor of 10," Mr. Schare said.
Jeffrey Malavasic, 58, a retired railroad worker in Florence, Ore.,
said he had decided to fill only half of his Mustargen prescription
when he learned of the price increase. He used the drug sparingly in
the past and will be even more frugal, he said...
.
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| User: "Fredric L. Rice" |
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| Title: Re: Company raises price of 60-year-old cancer drug by 607%, stunning doctors |
12 Mar 2006 04:47:12 PM |
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daves <daves@ae45t.be> wrote:
New York Times
March 12, 2006
A Cancer Drug's Big Price Rise Disturbs Doctors and Patients
Bet you they're a Republican owned company.
Zero ethics.
---
"I, for one, welcome our new alien overlords." - Kent Brockman
---
"The country is on a high state of alert. For all I know, you could be al-Qaida."
-- Quote from the Advantage Sales and Marketing, Inc. (949)797-2900
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| User: "SheBlewHimDidYouBlowHim" |
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| Title: Re: Company raises price of 60-year-old cancer drug by 607%, stunning doctors |
11 Mar 2006 04:06:36 PM |
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that's when you need someone that comes in and kills the idiots that raise
the price of the drug like that
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| User: "ggg" |
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| Title: Re: Company raises price of 60-year-old cancer drug by 607%, stunning doctors |
11 Mar 2006 05:52:32 PM |
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this is the greatest country in the world???
"daves" <daves@ae45t.be> wrote in message
news:jqc6129lrlirjehrsob6vn6m8cpdktq2gv@4ax.com...
New York Times
March 12, 2006
A Cancer Drug's Big Price Rise Disturbs Doctors and Patients
By ALEX BERENSON
On Feb. 3, Joyce Elkins filled a prescription for a two-week supply of
nitrogen mustard, a decades-old cancer drug used to treat a rare form
of lymphoma. The cost was $77.50.
On Feb. 17, Ms. Elkins, a 64-year-old retiree who lives in Georgetown,
Tex., returned to her pharmacy for a refill. This time, following a
huge increase in the wholesale price of the drug, the cost was
$548.01.
Ms. Elkins's insurance does not cover nitrogen mustard, which she must
take for at least the next six months, at a cost that will now total
nearly $7,000. She and her husband, who works for the Texas Department
of Transportation, are paying for the medicine by spending less on
utilities and food, she said.
The increase has stunned doctors, who say it starkly illustrates two
trends in the pharmaceutical industry: The soaring price of cancer
medicines and the tendency for those prices to have little relation to
the cost of developing or making the drugs.
Genentech, for example, has indicated it will effectively double the
price of its colon cancer drug Avastin, to about $100,000, when
Avastin's use is expanded to breast and lung cancer patients. As with
Avastin, nothing about nitrogen mustard is changing but the price.
"Nitrogen mustard has been around forever," said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld,
the deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society.
"There's nothing that I am aware of in the treatment environment that
I am aware of that would explain an increase in the cost of the drug."
Nitrogen mustard, also known as Mustargen, was developed more than 60
years ago and is among the oldest chemotherapy drugs. For decades, it
has been blended into an ointment by pharmacists and used as a topical
treatment for a cancer called cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, a rare form
of cancer that mainly affects the skin.
And once a company sets a price, government agencies, private
insurers, and patients have little choice but to pay it. The Food &
Drug Administration does not regulate prices, and Medicare is banned
from considering price in deciding whether to cover treatments.
<snip>
Many patients who rely on expensive drugs are stuck in a bind. Don
Schare of Saratoga, Calif., said he paid $1,260 last month for 200
grams of nitrogen mustard cream, about 10 times what he paid for his
prior prescription. Mr. Schare, 69, said he was covered by the new
Medicare Part D drug program as well as supplemental insurance from
AARP, but that neither of his plans covered Mustargen.
"It's an obscene gesture on the company's part to raise something by a
factor of 10," Mr. Schare said.
Jeffrey Malavasic, 58, a retired railroad worker in Florence, Ore.,
said he had decided to fill only half of his Mustargen prescription
when he learned of the price increase. He used the drug sparingly in
the past and will be even more frugal, he said...
.
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| User: "America The Bushpitiful" |
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| Title: Re: Company raises price of 60-year-old cancer drug by 607%, stunning doctors |
11 Mar 2006 06:12:09 PM |
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On or about Mar 11, 2006 < ggg > only compounded to the pain, suffering,
misery by added to the record Usenet suicides and prolonging the horrible
tragedies with this reckless input:
this is the greatest country in the world???
Where the HELL did you ever hear something like that? -lol
Did you just get back from one of them secret undergroudhog neoCON meetings
or something?
"daves" <daves@ae45t.be> wrote in message
news:jqc6129lrlirjehrsob6vn6m8cpdktq2gv@4ax.com...
New York Times
March 12, 2006
A Cancer Drug's Big Price Rise Disturbs Doctors and Patients
By ALEX BERENSON
On Feb. 3, Joyce Elkins filled a prescription for a two-week supply of
nitrogen mustard, a decades-old cancer drug used to treat a rare form
of lymphoma. The cost was $77.50.
On Feb. 17, Ms. Elkins, a 64-year-old retiree who lives in Georgetown,
Tex., returned to her pharmacy for a refill. This time, following a
huge increase in the wholesale price of the drug, the cost was
$548.01.
Ms. Elkins's insurance does not cover nitrogen mustard, which she must
take for at least the next six months, at a cost that will now total
nearly $7,000. She and her husband, who works for the Texas Department
of Transportation, are paying for the medicine by spending less on
utilities and food, she said.
The increase has stunned doctors, who say it starkly illustrates two
trends in the pharmaceutical industry: The soaring price of cancer
medicines and the tendency for those prices to have little relation to
the cost of developing or making the drugs.
Genentech, for example, has indicated it will effectively double the
price of its colon cancer drug Avastin, to about $100,000, when
Avastin's use is expanded to breast and lung cancer patients. As with
Avastin, nothing about nitrogen mustard is changing but the price.
"Nitrogen mustard has been around forever," said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld,
the deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society.
"There's nothing that I am aware of in the treatment environment that
I am aware of that would explain an increase in the cost of the drug."
Nitrogen mustard, also known as Mustargen, was developed more than 60
years ago and is among the oldest chemotherapy drugs. For decades, it
has been blended into an ointment by pharmacists and used as a topical
treatment for a cancer called cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, a rare form
of cancer that mainly affects the skin.
And once a company sets a price, government agencies, private
insurers, and patients have little choice but to pay it. The Food &
Drug Administration does not regulate prices, and Medicare is banned
from considering price in deciding whether to cover treatments.
<snip>
Many patients who rely on expensive drugs are stuck in a bind. Don
Schare of Saratoga, Calif., said he paid $1,260 last month for 200
grams of nitrogen mustard cream, about 10 times what he paid for his
prior prescription. Mr. Schare, 69, said he was covered by the new
Medicare Part D drug program as well as supplemental insurance from
AARP, but that neither of his plans covered Mustargen.
"It's an obscene gesture on the company's part to raise something by a
factor of 10," Mr. Schare said.
Jeffrey Malavasic, 58, a retired railroad worker in Florence, Ore.,
said he had decided to fill only half of his Mustargen prescription
when he learned of the price increase. He used the drug sparingly in
the past and will be even more frugal, he said...
--
"The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of
private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic
state itself. That, in its essence, is Fascism--ownership of government by an
individual, by a group, or by any controlling private power."
-Franklin D. Roosevelt
.
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