Price of AIDS drug soars fivefold

[Newsjock]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2001829890_aidsdrug05m0.html

By Carol M. Ostrom
Seattle Times staff reporter

A huge price increase for a key HIV/AIDS drug has taken patients by surprise, bewildered pharmacists and prompted a cadre of angry doctors to fire off a protest to the pharmaceutical company.

Pete Widowitz, an AIDS patient who has used Norvir successfully since the mid-1990s, discovered the price increase last month when his pharmacist called about a refill Widowitz had phoned in.

Widowitz pays for the medications and then is reimbursed by his insurance company. So the pharmacist wanted him to know that his cost for Norvir, one of several drugs he takes, had increased from $665 per month to more than $3,200 — nearly five times.

... Abbott spokeswoman Laureen Cassidy said the higher price helps pay to develop new drugs and new formulations of existing drugs. "This is about preserving patient choice," she said.

more

[truthisfreedom]

1. "This is about ending patient's lives," she said.

[Gman]

2. Actually, the patient may have no choice

the patient may just have to die before his/her time.

[Occulus]

3. Corporate personhood allowed this.

[Judi Lynn]

4. They must believe they are beyond anyone's control now.

From the article:

(snip) Locally, about 30 doctors and other health providers who care for HIV/AIDS patients have protested to Abbott, a well-established pharmaceutical firm headquartered in Illinois. They warned that the "unconscionable price increase" for the drug will have "long-term serious consequences."

"We view this as very unethical," said Dr. Rob Killian, a Seattle family physician who signed the letter. "Not in my 15-year history have I seen anything like this — for a drug out for years, to increase the price this much." (snip)

How can they live with their choice? People will die because of it.

[cthrumatrix]

5. It's all about $$treating and not curing....this goes for all ailments....

corporations at their worst...

[R Hickey]

6. Extortionists.

If a crack pusher tried this he would be instantly killed.

[Skittles]

13. crack dealers have much more ethics than Abbott folk

unbelievable.

[Vitruvius]

7. These AIDS drugs were discovered by academic researchers paid by OUR TAX

DOLLARS. The gov't then GAVE these discoveries to the drug companies -- who are now gouging the sick.

We -- American taxpayers -- pay for most of the basic research that leads to new drugs. Then the take-no-risk drug companies charge us -- as Americans -- the highest drug prices in the world. And try to prevent us from re-importing drugs from Canada...

Why do they do this? Because they can. Especially with the Rethugs in power.

Someday there will be a reckoning.

[GermanDJ]

8. Greg Palast gathered some interesting facts about this (and more)

I have read his latest book - The Best Democracy Money Can Buy - and was shocked how cynical multinational corporations in general and especially certain drug companies behave nowadays. It's true what you say, Vitruvius, a lot of drugs which are now commercially sold were originally developed by universities and paid for with tax dollars. This happened not only in the USA, you can see it happening here in Europe as well.

Some basic information can be found here:

http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=18&row=1

http://www.guerrillanews.com/sci-tech/doc2398.html

[Just Me]

9. Freakin' heartless, profit-sucking, corporate a**wipes,...

,...and these are the ones our "leaders" ho to!!!!

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

10. Screw patents

Let's make generic. Isn't it odd that USA citizens may soon have to flee to third world countries in order to get medical care?

I expect Brazil to kick the drug companies right in the nuts, with gusto.

[discordian]

11. Murder, plain and simple

These people at the big pharma companies are murderers. There's no other word that fits as well as this. I think the government wants the people with HIV/AIDS to die as soon as possible, because so many PWA's are fairly liberal. I have two friends that I've been watching slowly die from AIDS for about 5 years. The government is entirely a thorn in their sides. All of the help they get is from privately funded charities and foundations (Ryan White, etc). I hope these rich bastards get to watch their own family members die from it, maybe that will spark some element of humanity still left in them.

[tedzbear]

12. Meanwhile MILLIONS are dying in Africa...

...so that Abbott can protect the copyright on its Norvir patent. God forbid Abbott forfeits its profits so that cheap generic versions of Norvir can save a million lives.
If this isn't a prime example of how multinational corporations are more important than people, I don't know what is.
Disgusting.

P.S. Since my protease inhibitor Kaletra has Norvir in it (as a booster), it will probably go way up in price too.

[Turbineguy]

14. I guess the idea is to kill the patients

before they can vote for somebody besides Bush.