FDA Sued by Health Advocates Over High Cost of Harvoni
The efficacy and effectiveness of Harvoni in the treatment of hepatitis C is not at issue. But its cost is: a single treatment regimen, which involves taking one Harvoni pill per day, costs $94,000. While insurance companies generally are not allowed to deny a claimant due medication as prescribed, they can seek less expensive alternatives. The problem is there is no real alternative to Harvoni other than its close cousin, Sovaldi, which is almost as expensive.
via FDA Sued by Health Advocates Over High Cost of Harvoni.
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The Journal of the American Medical Association says that new therapies are achieving hepatitis C cure rates higher than 95%.
When someone is cured of Hep C, they can’t infect anyone else by sharing a needle or having sex. Given the predatory nature of Big Pharma, I don’t think it’s at all cynical to suspect that drug companies have priced Harvoni and Solvadi so that only the wealthy can be cured, while the remainder of those who have hepatitis C suffer, infect others (who are hopefully wealthy), and then die.
Please sign the petition from the link below; let’s put some pressure on Gilead, and see what comes of it. If it goes viral, it’ll likely work faster than the lawsuit that’s been filed. Thank you.
Wobbly Warrior's Blog 
Reblogged this on facinghepc and commented:
Please sign this petition.
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Thank you for reblogging this post, and for requesting signatures on the petition. I see that Harvoni is now running commercials [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCAa4bs0OoY]. It troubles me that so many people will see that a cure is just eight weeks away, only to find out that their insurance is not going to cover the outrageous cost, and their suffering will continue, needlessly.
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It’s so inconsiderate to human beings to offer them something they can’t afford that could save their life or send their suffering. The idea that someone can approve or reject a patient’s application for treatment because it “costs” too much is inhumane and morally corrupt.
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If I understand matters correctly, few drugs are developed with the drug companies bearing all of the expense … sometimes research grants are awarded by the government or by tax-exempt organizations, sometimes universities are involved – universities that receive federal dollars. Even if Harvoni was developed entirely with Gilead dollars, it sets a precedent in corporate greed for Gilead to attempt to recover all of its costs immediately by charging $94,000 per pill.
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My brother has spoken to me about exactly that! I understand the need for the company to be reimbursed for their expenses, but at the same time, I pay my taxes, I abide by the law, I donate to charity, I encourage love and kindness. If patients are sick and do these things, they should be taken care of somehow. If the drug company wants to come out even, they can’t expect to charge so much to treat an illness referred to as a “poor man’s disease.” If it was more affordable, the drug company would be able to profit from it in 5 years. (Sorry for the rant. I’m getting an economics degree).
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The dirty needle exposure to HepC is often from tattoos, not drug addiction; particularly in prisons. And the sexually transmitted HepC in prisons is often the result of rape, which clueless screenwriters continue to push as something that every felon deserves to have happen to him on just about every crime show I’ve ever watched.
I’m glad you are studying economics; we need more people in that field who are capable of understanding the deliberate harm to society caused by legislated changes to historic corporate accounting methods, who are willing to fight to reinstate the rules that served to check and balance corporate greed … which also kept corporate financial statements in the non-fiction category. The slideshow fictions that now masquerade as “financials” serve to give insiders a field day every day, while ordinary investors are duped into buying junk.
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