[HN Gopher] Most Expensive Drugs in the U.S.
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Most Expensive Drugs in the U.S.
Author : avonmach
Score : 31 points
Date : 2021-06-08 21:18 UTC (1 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.goodrx.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.goodrx.com)
| tristanc wrote:
| Unfortunately seems unavailable in Europe...
| felixg3 wrote:
| Fortunately, most of us Europeans do not need to compare prices
| of prescription medication.
| ryan93 wrote:
| Comparing the prices of unavailable medicine?
| 1123581321 wrote:
| Most of these aren't available in Europe or European approval
| lagged the US (not that the US is as fast is it should be.)
| Europeans have had to fundraise to personally pay for such
| niche medications.
| pkaye wrote:
| Though it still happens a few times for these expensive
| drugs.
|
| https://smanewstoday.com/news-posts/2021/04/26/danish-
| family...
| gambiting wrote:
| I just posted above - UK's National Health Service has just
| struck a deal with Novartis to provide Zolgensma to
| children who need it at no charge:
|
| https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/mar/08/nhs-use-
| worl...
| wyager wrote:
| I guarantee you can't get any of these drugs payed for by the
| government in countries with government-run healthcare.
| gambiting wrote:
| Really? How certain of it are you? What's your source?
|
| Very recently UK government has struck a deal with Novartis
| to provide "the world's most expensive drug" to children
| with spinal muscular atrophy - at PS1.8M a dose(the amount
| NHS agreed to pay Novartis is confidential).
|
| https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/mar/08/nhs-use-
| worl...
|
| My own father has been treated with Glivec for over 8
| years, all on the national health service - treatment which
| in the US costs about $100k/year.
|
| Like, I'm genuienly curious if you have a source, or is
| this just a flex of some kind?
| johntdyer wrote:
| So fwiw I take Solaris every two weeks to treat Myasthenia Gravis
| and it probably saved my life. It's an auto immune disease that
| causes voluntary muscles to quickly tire, and you would be
| surprised what actually qualifies at voluntary, eg your
| diaphragm.... So yea, these drugs may be unaffordable and that
| needs to change , but they do save lives.
| the_svd_doctor wrote:
| I'm glad that drug is helping you. I'm curious, do you know if
| it is available in other countries? If yes, then we are
| basically just subsidizing other places which can buy it, most
| likely, for much cheaper.
| akamoonknight wrote:
| Maybe naive question, but why do _any_ insurance companies
| provide payments for these medications?
| H8crilA wrote:
| Free market? Wouldn't you like your insurance to cover all
| diseases? I know I would.
| [deleted]
| johntdyer wrote:
| Well... Because my doctor prescribed it and said it's
| necessary, and as it turns out it was.... I'm just thankful
| that I have good insurance...
| KMnO4 wrote:
| Do insurance companies actually pay full price for these drugs?
| I was under the impression that (at least in the US) it's a bit
| of a racket where the bill will say $1000 and insurance will
| make a deal with the supplier to pay $100 (while simultaneously
| telling you they saved you $1000).
| KMnO4 wrote:
| What is "annual cost based on length of therapy"?
|
| If you take a pill for 3 months at $10k/month does it have an
| "annual cost" of $120k or $30k? And if it's the latter then it
| would be less confusing if "annual" were omitted.
| throwaway13337 wrote:
| It would be nice to have a comparison to non-US costs.
|
| I know the medication I take costs 5-6k a month in the US
| (without insurance) but I am able to get it for 700-2k in
| everywhere else.
|
| I suppose it's about what you'd like to highlight.
| sneak wrote:
| It's a real shame that you're not allowed to freely transport
| lifesaving medications across borders.
| bitmover wrote:
| All I could think about reading that list is, "damn I'm glad we
| have a drug for that."
| jumelles wrote:
| Yep, medicine is incredible. The cost of medication is still a
| massive issue in the world, though.
| standardUser wrote:
| All I could thing was "damn, too bad so many people who
| desperately need these drugs can't afford them".
| colechristensen wrote:
| The max out-of-pocket for anyone insured in the US is $8,550
| presently for an individual.
|
| The big price tag is irrelevant, there's the most you can
| spend on approved treatments in a year.
| NortySpock wrote:
| ...Plus the money you pay monthly in order to have health
| insurance.
| dillondoyle wrote:
| And also IF you can get your insurance to cover or get it
| on formulary. The article lists links on most of these
| drugs the companies actively helping patients get it
| covered.
| jakeva wrote:
| $8,550 is a lot of money to most Americans
| caslon wrote:
| Does it matter if nobody can afford it?
| H8crilA wrote:
| ~nobody pays those prices out of pocket
|
| There's absolutely no way you can have a medical system
| without insurance (either govt underwritten or private
| corporation underwritten) beyond something trivial like a
| village herbalist.
|
| The only question is who does the underwriting and even more
| importantly how are the premiums collected (taxes, that is
| proportional to income, or flat fees).
| the_svd_doctor wrote:
| That's true, but everything also seems so much more
| expensive here, even after negotiations between private
| insurances and healthcare providers.
| eplanit wrote:
| I notice how the prices are not rationalized beyond "because
| that's what Pharma charges" because of rarity of the illnesses,
| etc. But there's no concrete 'why' the prices are what they are.
| It seems they charge what they can get away with charging (it is
| a market economy, after all).
|
| It's not goodrx's fault in their reporting (bravo to them, in
| fact), it's that there is no transparency into that industry that
| would provide such a breakdown (that I know of -- surely never
| see it reported).
| CobaltFire wrote:
| My son as diagnosed with B-ALL (Leukemia) last year, and one of
| the drugs on this list was on the table. His genetic screening
| came back as it not being required/appropriate, but it really
| opened my eyes. I have health coverage that means I wouldn't have
| paid a cent, but I didn't know that at first, and the feeling
| that price tag left me with was something I won't forget.
|
| A cancer diagnosis is hard. The fact that not only may you lose a
| loved one, but then to confront the cost of treatment during the
| phase when you are just trying to accept that diagnosis is
| something else.
|
| Even without that drug I would be bankrupt if I had chosen a
| different career that afforded my family less coverage.
| grecy wrote:
| > _Even without that drug I would be bankrupt if I had chosen a
| different career that afforded my family less coverage_
|
| The knowledge that hundreds of millions of people in the
| richest country that has ever existed live like that sickens
| me.
|
| My Mum was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. She had
| radiation, chemo, 4 different trail drugs and more pills and
| doctor visits than I ever want to remember over two and half
| years. Multiple multi-day stays in hospital and of course all
| the at-home care towards the end.
|
| It was horrible, and I wouldn't wish it on the worst person in
| the world.
|
| None of it cost a cent out of pocket, and my parents are both
| retired teachers (average middle class) with just normal public
| healthcare.
|
| Australia can figure this out but the USA can't? Feels more
| like doesn't want to.
| mnouquet wrote:
| > Australia can figure this out but the USA can't? Feels more
| like doesn't want to.
|
| I went through the cost/revenue data from public Big Pharma
| companies a few years ago, long story short, the US prices
| are subsidizing the rest of the world's (ie. really only
| first world countries) "free" healthcare.
| enahs-sf wrote:
| All of the drugs on this list seem to treat some pretty nasty
| conditions. I wonder what the payback time for the research is
| and the target market looks like for each one. I also wonder what
| the landscape of medicine will look like when generic versions of
| these become available. How many awesome treatments are out there
| but uncovered by insurance and thus, out of reach for all but the
| most rich individuals.
| philjohn wrote:
| On the flipside, a treatment for Wilson's disease that was
| first authorised for use in 1985, Syprine, is now well over
| $200 per tablet - the problem here, it's probably not worth
| making a generic as the market is pretty small.
| H8crilA wrote:
| If you have $300/month you can afford those drugs. That's
| barely ultra rich.
| LatteLazy wrote:
| The most expensive drug on the list costs 2m, but then you're
| done. Cured.
|
| The second most expensive costs 1m. But that's per year.
|
| 1m/year > 2m/lifetime
| yepthatsreality wrote:
| From the same site:
|
| > ABOUT ZOLGENSMA
|
| > ONASEMNOGENE ABEPARVOVEC is used to treat patients with
| spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). It is not a cure. Compare gene
| therapy drugs.
| johntdyer wrote:
| Yep, I can't testify personally that Solaris is a treatment ,
| not a cure
| woleium wrote:
| Sadly though, even with the drug lifetime in this case is only
| 15-19 years.
| johntdyer wrote:
| Yea, well Myasthenia Gravis is not terminal, so I'll likely
| be on Solaris for the next 30-40 years... so $28,000,000 USD
| :(
| tamaharbor wrote:
| I do a GoodRx price check of every drug I see advertised on TV.
| There is typically no drug that costs less than $5k a month. Is
| there a problem here?
| sonofhans wrote:
| Yes. The problem is allowing pharmaceutical products to be
| advertised directly to consumers. That's only legal in 2
| countries -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct-to-
| consumer_advertising
|
| As a consequence, many large drug companies spend more money
| marketing drugs than developing them --
| https://www.raps.org/news-and-articles/news-articles/2019/7/...
| LeegleechN wrote:
| Most prescribed drugs are generics that will cost you a couple
| bucks. The drugs advertised on TV are precisely the ones with
| high margins that support expensive customer acquisition
| efforts.
| to11mtm wrote:
| Yeah. New Drugs are 'new', have probably just gone through
| expensive R&D and Trial periods, so there is a need to recoup
| investment.
|
| Of course, there's the problem of when companies make a 'new'
| drug that is very similar to an existing drug/generic that
| already exists. A great example of that in my head is how
| Cymbalta is not that much different than Effexor.
| willcipriano wrote:
| The most egregious was when the CFC ban went into place and
| the non-CFC inhalers were all under patent again.
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