Posted on 11/18/2010 9:36:04 AM PST by Skeez
Newly Approved Drug Extends Lives but Costs Close to $100,000; The Debate in Washington is Whether Medicare Should Pay for It
(CBS) More than 217,000 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year. About 32,000 will die.
A newly approved drug can extend lives by several months but at a cost close to $100,000. CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews reports on Wednesday the debate in Washington was whether Medicare should pay for it.
Sal Cicero has advanced prostate cancer his doctors say is fatal. At 67 he's still working as a realtor and for that he credits the drug Provenge.
"The drug for me has given me basically and opportunity to continue my lifestyle," says Cicero.
Patient advocates like Jim Kiefert say Provenge is a medical breakthrough.
"The men who know about it are just standing in line waiting to get it," he says.
For tens of thousands of prostate cancer victims, Provenge equals hope. To make the drug, the patient's own blood cells are drawn and then exposed in a lab to a protein that mimics the cancer.
They're then returned to the patient essentially supercharged to attack the cancer. The issue is that it costs $93,000 per patient for four extra months of survival.
Those facts led Medicare officials to call in the experts to ask if Medicare should cover Provenge. Officials insisted this was not about the cost but patient groups were alarmed and said the meeting was all about the money, and worse.
"I see no other word to use in this case but rationing," one expert says.
The makers of Provenge call the drug a value at $93,000. They argue it can be less expensive than chemotherapy, with none of the horrible side effects.
"What is a breakthrough here is that the concept of using your own immune system to fight cancer represents a whole new era in medicine," says Dendreon CEO Mitchell Gold.
This whole new era is getting expensive. Other biologic drugs like Provenge made from cells now cost more than $21,000 per patient. Traditional drugs cost $1,100, which means these breakthroughs could one day break the bank.
"And they need to figure out how to rein this in if we're going to be able to keep the pharmacy benefit off the extinction list," says Senior VP and Chief Medical Officer at Express Scripts Dr. Steven Miller.
It's likely that Medicare will cover Provenge, but only for patients whose cancer has spread. It's a crucial decision because typically most private insurance companies follow Medicare's lead.
The drug will go down as more people demand it. Supply and Demand. Plus EVERYTHING costs a fortune when they first hit the market. Goodness it cost 600 dollars for the first DVD player and now you can get one for 30 bucks.
Under obamacare, there will be no money for this. The money will go to aids treatment, abortions, sex “change” operations and euthanasia.
The whole thing falls apart with excess regulation and the concept that pre-existing conditions must be accepted. That just kills the concept of "paying forward" to prepare for possible future bad news.
Under the Obama system, expensive drugs like this will make no sense. They will not be developed. They will not be dispensed. Life expectancy in the US is going to start dropping.
This would work even better if we allow TSA to start doing prostate exams at all major airports as well. Don’t look at it as an intrusive screening, but as a free “wellness check”...
HIFU could probably solve most of the problems here....but, the FDA won’t allow it in the United States yet....why? Probably because there are no drugs or chemo involved....and it generally CURES the prostate problem.
It’ll be free, we’ll all have Obama Care soon! lol
The only problem is that the supply,demand and cost curve is only elastic in a free market setting. The Feds give Big Pharma protection from competition through patent laws and other rules.
HIFU = High Intensity Focused Ultrasound
--yeah, those pesky patents--seems like even the writers of the Constitution were taken in by "Big Pharma"--(sarc)
Um, the person with prostate cancer?
Yes, of course. Think of a patent as a social contract - in exchange for a limited time (a maximum of 20 years from the filing date if it is not abandoned before - many patents are) of protected exclusivity the patentee not only develops a new technology but also makes it public by way of the published application - thereby giving information to competitors, which they can use to either build upon or improve by their own inventions. If you take away the limited time of exclusivity you will either discourage new developments (which cost money) or their publication.
Toll-Free number to the Congressional Switchboard
(866) 338-1015
Obamacare ‘Rule,’ 347 Pages, 118,072 Words (Medicare)
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obamacare-rule-347-pages-118072-words_518084.html
Here is the document.
http://www.ofr.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2010-28774_PI.pdf
That's a 15% death rate for prostate cancer vs. 3% rate for breast cancer and yet which one is sponsored by household product companies, food companies, walkathons, benefit concerts and an entire month dedicated to "awareness"?
Yes, but we love boobies more than prostates... Plus, we’re men.
Yeah, we do love boobs more than prostates.
Think of it: what color would the prostate cancer ribbons be? Cream color?
A fair proportion of us, including me, have had bladder cancer. That should call for yellow ribbons for a month or two. Football teams wearing yellow cleats would be all the rage?
How about colon cancer? Brown ribbons? That’ll sell.
Maybe that's why breast cancer's death rate is so much lower. If the prostate cancer people aren't working as hard, why begrudge the success of the breast cancer organizations? Hell, that's downright Liberal thinking.
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