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

Posted by EditorDavid on from the bitter-pills dept.

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.

4 of 384 comments (clear)

  1. And when true drug price controls... by GerryGilmore · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...come into effect, expect wailing, moaning and cries of "How could it have come to this?!?". Well, dumb-asses, you just HAD to grab that extra dollar just because you could, right? Payback will be a bitch if we ever wake up in this country.

  2. Re:This is the economic system... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Except it's not the free market, because this only happens due to a government granted monopoly on the drug formulation (i.e. the patents).

  3. Re:This is what I don't understand. by Swave+An+deBwoner · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Check the bolded portion below:

    In the United States, as of 2015, with Turing Pharmaceuticals' acquisition of the US marketing rights for Daraprim tablets,[25] Daraprim has become a single-source and specialty pharmacy item, and the price of Daraprim has been increased.[26] The cost of a monthly course for a person on 75 mg dose rose to about $75,000/month, or $750 per tablet.[27][28] Outpatients can no longer obtain Daraprim from their community pharmacy, but only through a single dispensing pharmacy, Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy, and institutions can no longer order from their general wholesaler, but have to set up an account with the Daraprim Direct program.[26][29] Presentations from Retrophin, a company formerly headed by Martin Shkreli, CEO of Turing, from which Turing acquired the rights to Daraprim, suggest that a closed distribution system could prevent generic competitors from legally obtaining the drugs for the bioequivalence studies required for FDA approval of a generic drug.[29]

  4. Re: This is what I don't understand. by dmr001 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Most drugs have a bunch of patents, including ones for the active ingredient, the delivery mechanism, the coating, etc. The patents will have staggered expiration dates, which can maximize the time a drug remains on patent. Albuterol inhalers, for example, which used to be generic until they were reformulated to be ozone safe, has 4 US patents for one particular formulation (ProAir). That helps keep this 40 year old drug at $57-$70 an inhaler. Somehow, back when it was generic, it was $4 an inhaler. Albuterol was supposed to be going generic again any minute now for the past 2-3 years, but it's still hung up in court —all for a drug that probably ought to be over-the-counter. IMHO.