BIG GOBS OF MONEY
All they want is to make gobs of money
This pisses me off. There was a time when I actually believed that the pharmaceutical manufacturers were in business to ameliorate and cure diseases. At least, I believed, they tried to ease symptoms. I spent many years standing up for the pharmaceutical industry. I cannot, with a clear conscience, continue to do that. I am an official doubter. I am no longer a true believer.
This is not gonna be a poetic article. It is just going to be the facts. I’m not even going to attempt to convince you of anything. Make your own conclusions and, please, express yourselves by leaving a comment.
Merck has made Mustargen for over 60 years. An off-label use is a topical cream (compounded) for cutaneous T-cell Lymphoma. Insurance won’t pay so Ms. Joyce Elkins (64 years old) of Texas has to dig into her purse. Last August, Merck sold Mustargen to Ovation Pharmaceuticals (Merck still manufactures the drug for Ovation).
Before Ovation, the Texas retiree paid $77.50 for a 2 weeks supply. Since Ovation, the same amount of cream costs her $548.01. Ovation raised the price of this drug ten-fold. They purchased Cosmegen also and raised the price of that drug even more. Ka-Ching and it is not the pharmacist who is hauling in the profits.
Genentech has indicated that it will double the price of the colon cancer drug Avastin to $100,000.00 when the drug is expanded to breast and lung cancer. Ka-Ching.
In 2003, Abbott Laboratories raised the price of Norvir from $54.00 to $265.00. When AIDS groups protested it was like a whiff of perfume in a high wind. Ka-Ching.
Genentech raised the price of the lung cancer drug Tarceva by 30% to $32,000.00 for a year’s treatment. The reason: Tarceva turned out to be more active and more powerful than the company expected. Ka-Ching!
Ovation again. In 2003, they bought the drug used for a rare enzymatic disease called porphyria. It is called Panhematin. Before Ovation $230.00 a dose. After Ovation $1900.00 a dose. Ovation is a privately held company. You cannot even buy stock. My guess is that Ovation will never actually manufacture gram one of anything. They’ll buy from the original companies. All Ovation will do is raise the price. Quadruple Ka-Ching!
Henry McKinnell, the chairman of the world’s largest drug company Pfizer, wrote a book last year. Titled: A Call to Action. This is what he wrote. “A number of factors go into the mix” of pricing. “Those factors consider cost of business, competition, patent status, anticipated volume, and, MOST IMPORTANT, our estimation of the income generated by sales of the product.” Ka-Ching!
I ask you this. When did we lose control of the mission of our industry? Did we never have any control? Was I naïve’ when I talked up the major companies a few decades ago? You know that the sound of Ka-Ching in bold letters is not something that the average pharmacist hears very often. Ovation you know, is just an extra stop, between Merck and you. What the hell does Ovation do to earn such an outrageous increase in price? Ka-Ching. If you have one drop of good red altruistic, put-the-patient-first blood in your veins, you’ll be pissed off too.
JP
