Doctors Tried To Lower $148K Cancer Drug Cost; Makers Tripled Its Price (arstechnica.com)

Slashdot reader Applehu Akbar writes: Imbruvica, a compound that treats white blood cell cancers, has until now been a bargain at $148,000 per year. Until now, doctors have been able to optimize dosage for each patient by prescribing up to four small-dose pills of it per day.

But after results from a recent small pilot trial indicated that smaller doses would for most patients work as well as the large ones, its manufacturer, Janssen and Pharmacyclics, has decided on the basis of the doctors' interest in smaller dosages to reprice all sizes of the drug to the price of the largest size. This has the effect of tripling the price for patients, and doctors have now put off any plans for further testing of lower dosages.
The researchers are retaliating by urging clinical investigators to test whether the expensive pill could be safely given every other day -- and by calling on America's public health regulators to investigate the drug's pricing.

Comments

Re:Crimes against humanity

[hawguy]

Its manufacturer, Janssen and Pharmacyclics, has decided on the basis of the doctors' interest in smaller dosages to reprice all sizes of the drug to the price of the largest size.

The company made all doses the same price. You can buy the four times stronger pills, cut them in four parts and save yourself 75%.

That doesn't work with all drugs - for example, some drugs have an enteric coating that prevents it from dissolving in the stomach, others may have a time release coating, etc.

Re:Where are all of the free market supporters?

[quonset]

It always blows my mind when I see users who constantly post pro-Trump free market posts on slashdot calling for the death and hanging of someone or some organization who is doing just that!

Except last year the con artist said he'd lower drug prices. Then he picked a guy who is a former pharmaceutical executive who raised drug prices.

Even in February's State of the Union address he said he'd lower drug prices.

What has he done so far? Reduce regulations on oil and gas drillers, put a guy in charge of the EPA who is vowed and determined to let polluters off the hook, and started a trade war with China which is already costing Midwest farmers.

Let's toss in some numbers...

[dfenstrate]

A New York Times article stated that this drug was developed with three other non-viable drugs for a total cost of $388,000,000. Dividing by the stated cost of $143,000 dollars, 2,713 patients have to be treated with this drug for 1 year to recover development costs.
This drug treats Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL). Approximately 20,000 people are diagnosed with CLL each year, and those people have an average age of 71 years. Approximately 4,500 people die each year from CLL. Your lifetime risk of developing CLL is 1 in 175.

Cancer.org lists 5 other treatments (Obliersenn, Lumiliximab, HA22, Lenalidomide, 'standard' chemotherapy) for CLL , and mentions dozens of drugs are in testing for CLL treatment.

You now have more information to discuss alternative treatments, their costs, and why folks would choose one over the other, as well as a greater ability to evaluate the potential profitability of this drug (Imbruvica) at any price point.

Re:Crimes against humanity

[MidnightBrewer]

We already fund up to 80% of pharmaceutical R&D through our taxes. You forget that the pharmaceutical lobby is the most powerful one in Washington. It's a rigged system and we pay the price. Privatize the profits, socialize the losses.

I live in Japan, where the government is allowed to negotiate prices and can declare certain things (such as MRIs) benefits to the common good and therefore mandate that they be made cheaply available. Finally, drug patents only last for three years. One of the reasons the TPP would be bad news for the other countries: the US wants everyone to extend the patents to 12.