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FDA Approves First Drug Aimed at Women With Inherited Breast Cancer (statnews.com)
U.S. regulators have approved the first drug aimed at women with advanced breast cancer caused by an inherited flawed gene. From a report: The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved AstraZeneca PLC's Lynparza for patients with inherited BRCA gene mutations who have undergone chemotherapy. The drug has been on the market since 2014 for ovarian cancer, and is the first in a new class of medicines called PARP inhibitors to be approved for breast cancer. PARP inhibitors prevent cancer cells from fixing problems in their DNA. Lynparza will cost $13,886 per month without insurance, according to AstraZeneca. The company is offering patients financial assistance.
MAGA
The company is offering patients financial assistance.
That's really swell.
When are we finally going to lynch these sons-of-bitches?
...what about us who don't identify as a binary gender? Rather insensitive and exclusionary.
I love boobs!
I'm male, but have this genetic condition. I do have female family members who have suffered greatly. Many in my close and extended family have died because of this defect. Men are affected as well, but not as badly as women. I'm at much higher risk for prostate, colon, and pancreatic cancers.
I have known about my situation for about 20 years. I have even donated to UPenn's cancer center (where this drug was developed) in the past many years. It is inspiring to see real progress and real medicine happening.
I'm not outraged at the price at all. I've visited the labs and researchers who do this work. It is so freaking complicated, messy, and heartbreaking. PARP inhibitors have been our real hope for the women in the family. One family member who died a couple of years ago was part of a trial for this class of medication.
The road to curing these diseases is very long, and this is a great step in the right direction. I'm glad to see such an uplifting story on Slashdot (for me personally).
"If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid." - Epictetus
If being honest about this situation is shilling, then I suppose I shill quite a bit.
Go visit the researchers as I have. Go have 9 or 10 family members have a particular type of cancer as I have. Go tell your kids that they shouldn't have kids because of a genetic defect.
Do those things, and then come back and preach to me. I will listen intensively and with great fervor.
"If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid." - Epictetus
As the gulf between the rich and the poor continues to grow, so does the expectation that the rich should have to pay for everything.
This is why universal basic income is doomed to fail. No matter how much you give, the recipients will insist that it is not enough.
If it's a scam it is. But if it works then on par, for today's big pharma stock market expectations. Like most of these great white hopes, it starts out with a bang then dies quickly, in a whimper, after making lots of bux$.
The price of most new technology begins outrageous and out of most people's reach. Especially a technology expensive to develop with a narrowly targeted set of people who can benefit from it, compared to the general population.
Develop a new med AND get it FDA approved. Then add up your costs and report back on whether this outrageous.
I'm not in pharma at all and I can see that from basic business experience.
OK, so we're looking at $40k for an extra 3 months of life? I'm not sure what to think. But it does point out the importance of discussing end-of-life decisions. Remember when Republicans were screaming about their made-up "death panels"? There weren't any death panels, of course, but there was language suggesting doctors should talk to their patients about discussing these things with their family and making the decisions before they're actually needed. Because trust me, when the time comes to make those decisions, it's the worst time to have to make those decisions.
If you have a family, you should think about advanced directives. Don't make your family have to deal with that at the same time they're worried about losing you.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Great, but how many people can afford $14k/month?
I keep forgetting Americans generally don't give a fuck about the poor.
It will cheapen as time goes on.
It's really odd that people seem to think the tens of thousands of man-hours and resources that go into these things are only there to serve them specifically.
With great investment... comes great expectations.
Go tell your kids that they shouldn't have kids because of a genetic defect.
Maybe I should tell them that anyway? Because they can't afford $14k per month?
I'm glad that the drug exists, I'm glad that (some) people have this benefit, I'm glad that having the wrong genes isn't a death sentence for (some) people. Nothing that you've said here justifies the price.
If I go and visit the researchers, as you say, will they open their books for me? Looking at a lab isn't going to prove to me that $14k per month is a reasonable price. I've seen medical labs before.
This will be taken off the market within a few years due to a) not actually working and b) terrible side effects. Like most drugs.