FDA Approves First Drug Aimed at Women With Inherited Breast Cancer (statnews.com) 33
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.
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That is the price without insurance. Everyone has insurance in the US, so I'm told by Ms. Pelosi. It is required by law to have insurance. Don't you know that?
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"That is the price without insurance."
What's your point? That insurance companies want their slice of the pie too? My mother's family pays more for insurance than for their mortgage. All of healthcare is 100% completely fucked from the financial perspective of a humane human.
"Everyone has insurance in the US, so I'm told by Ms. Pelosi. It is required by law to have insurance."
It was never a law to have insurance, persay. You were simply penalized if you put your health risk on the public instead of yourself
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I apologize that my sarcasm was not more obvious.
In my view, the real problem with healthcare in the US is the lack of pricing transparency. You and I can have the same condition and receive the same treatment. But, zero doctors can sit and tell you upfront how much it will cost. And I don't mean that from an "its complicated" point of view. I mean that from the point of view that nobody on your airplane ride pays the same price for the same service. No college students sitting in the same classroom paid th
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I mean that from the point of view that nobody on your airplane ride pays the same price for the same service.
Poor analogy. With an airline ticket, I at least know the price at the time of purchase. With most medical services, I don't know the cost until I receive the bill, often weeks after treatment.
Healthcare in America is likely the world's most dysfunctional market. Fixing it will not be easy, since that would threaten the livelihood of 11% of the workforce, although more of those people work in administration and billing than in patient care.
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I see your point with regards to airline ticket. And even my college tuition issue. Not poor analogies, just shithole analogies. :)
But, you still are basically getting random pricing. I can sometimes have a doctor give me a "treament plan" that describes the expected pricing. This is rare, and maybe once was within 10% of the final amount.
I'm totally shocked that you can get a bill within weeks. My last two major things (I get testing done a lot because I have a BRCA edit in my DNA) took 11 and 12 months to
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What you're saying may be accurate. That you think it shouldn't change is what is truly sad.
Re: Great but... (Score:1)
It's not their fault that you are mentally ill.
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Spotted the virgin.
I'm Affected and I Welcome This (Score:5, Insightful)
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).
Re:As Curly says (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
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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.
"study of 302 patients" (Score:2)
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 discus
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I am inclined to agree with you.
Reminds me of that advertisement for the drug Optivo. "A chance to live longer". Then you read the fine print. 2-3 months longer. Let's say 6 months to be generous. Sorry, but to me that's not worth it. I want a cure/remission. Why all the research to postpone the inevitable?
That's also why I believe advanced directives should include a clause that if there is a clear, terminal illness at play (no cure, no hope of cure, x months to live) give me that morphine IV, le