Anonymous #2 13w

yeah no i’ve. seen the quotes. very disingenuous of ABC to not even put that $28,218 figure in this article.

84

Anonymous OP 13w

Apparently it only costs something like $25 dollars for them to produce one vial, from what i’ve heard. Luigi was too kind imo

100

i struggle to fathom why you are blaming individual doctors for the cost of this Billion-Dollar-Pharmaceutical-Corporation-Developed drug.

71

Anonymous catboycommunist 13w

TWENTY FIVE DOLLARS?!

47

Anonymous OP 13w

LMAOOOOO

9

Anonymous catboycommunist 13w

That’s the manufacturing cost, it doesn’t show the 10+ years and hundred of millions/billions spent on research to get this drug to market. They only have something like a 7-10 year window to make their money back, so there’s at least a reason for the high price. Luckily most with insurance/medicaid will get some coverage and pay much much less than 28k

23

Anonymous OP 13w

it’s like how insulin costs a few cents/dollars and only recently got a price cap at $15

31

Anonymous OP 13w

Those "individual doctors" serve to benefit Big Pharma, for they foam at the mouth of hearing the phrase "medical loan" or "uninsured"

-19

Anonymous #2 13w

What? Why would individual doctors act like that? This is some conspiracy BS

22

Anonymous #8 13w

If people are feeble enough to believe in and vote for our current fucknut president, who’s to say there aren’t people who’d straight up believe in big pharma and join them to fill their wallets over prioritizing patient care? Not even believe, but be threatened to do so. Threatened to do what’s right for profit instead of making sure the patient is healthy/their life is saved.

19

Anonymous #10 13w

i’m ngl when i was in middle school n learned ab the big pharma conspiracy i was one of those guys who wanted to join to fill my wallet. ultimately i chose the complete opposite of the pay scale (teaching) but money is a very seductive tool

11

Anonymous #10 13w

This is schizo bullshit. Literally what incentive would doctors even have to prioritize big Pharma. Kickbacks have been super illegal and most doctors (like >90%) stay in the field. There are genuine problems in our healthcare system but this shit is just phycotic

11

it’s corporate greed driving up that price, and it’s not the individual doctors who set it. it’s decided by manufacturers, managers, and insurance, all roles focused on profit over people. doctors aren’t involved at all. doctors already fight with insurance companies to get their patients’ prescriptions covered, and I expect this will be the same. though sadly I doubt any insurance company will be interested in covering this and will categorize it as “unnecessary care”

8

Anonymous #8 13w

Tell that to my grandfather who was sent home “in good health” after treatment but we found that he caught pneumonia in the hospital, which progressed into sepsis, which later killed him painfully :)

2

Anonymous #10 13w

I'm sorry for your loss, people who complain of 'conspiracist mindsets' ignore the hard reality others have and how that impacts them

1

Anonymous #8 13w

So John Oliver is lying when he exposes doctors taking total bribes in shoving pills in patients to pad out profits?

1

Anonymous #10 13w

I’m sorry for your loss, but by your logic wouldn’t the hospital want to hold him longer to extract more money from him?

2

Anonymous #2 13w

those doctors are few and far between, and they lose their license when they’re caught

3

Anonymous #8 13w

Bad for business if people just drop dead. No one would want to bring patients to a shit hospital with a concerning mortality rate so they send them home. Even if it was their fault. I’m not saying your logic doesn’t make sense, because it does 100%. I’m just thinking from a business standpoint based on what I’ve learned and seen throughout the years.

4

Anonymous #10 13w

As a chronically ill person, you’re not wrong that doctors and nurses can be total fuck ups. I dread going to the hospital because I know they’ll mismanage my care plan. One nurse almost killed my grandma and that was like, a regular Tuesday for them. I don’t think they’re actively nefarious, though. It’s systemic. Part of it is our ass healthcare system.

6

Anonymous smithereen 13w

Like we have a system hellbent on profit and getting people in and out the door as fast as possible so pharma (and by extension, doctors) can make more money. I don’t think doctors see most of those profits, but they’re part of the system. I’ve had positive life changing experiences with medical professionals but also some horrible ones. We all deserve better!

7

Anonymous smithereen 13w

also the work environment for people in hospitals is horrible. Even if you are a proactive, good provider, you’re worn down by an environment that’s led to strikes and calls for unionization. The whole thing is really sad

6

Anonymous #2 13w

Yeah I’m sorry bud but your primary care provider is also in-part a victim of the private healthcare industry. They don’t just charge a lot of money for the fuck of it, it’s because the materials and services they buy/use cost them a fortune from corporations that arbitrarily hike prices. Why do you think prescription commercials say “ask your doctor about” whatever drug? It’s because pharma corps. want your doctor to give you access to their medication so the corporation can make money.

1

Anonymous #2 13w

Primary care doctors are essentially a middle-man between big pharma and med that hold the credentials to give you access to certain things that those corporations want to sell you. One notable case of how corporations can abuse this system could be opioid painkillers. Doctors were repeatedly told they were absolutely safe and non-addictive, and the corporations offered HUGE payouts when they prescribed them. So, doctors prescribed them even for minor pain since they believed they were safe.

3

Anonymous #2 13w

The issue here is potentially a few things: - The cost of regulatory filings, paying for audits, and raw materials is almost $2M. They can’t recoup those costs without charging high amounts initially, until they can get more people taking the medicine. At that point, they can scale up manufacturing to be more efficient - Gilead and 6 other companies agreed with low and lower-middle income countries to provide this medicine at cost for a certain period. In middle and high-income countries,…

1

Anonymous #20 13w

Gilead is the only supplier. That means they’re not facing any competition. They may also be using revenue from MICs and HICs to cover profit they would be generating from LIC and LMICs, as well as recouping R&D costs

1

Anonymous catboycommunist 13w

The $25 figure is the lower end of an estimate that is already factoring in reduced input costs if they can negotiate better deals because of higher volume or improve manufacturing efficiency. The paper that says this is projecting up to $47/person/year if they can get 2M patients on this, which would be amazing. But it looks like this is a combo of screwing poor people in MICs and HICs, “subsidizing” missed profits from LICs and LMICs, and the high costs associated with making a medicine not…

1

Anonymous #20 13w

Many people are taking at the moment. But considering they used NIH research, the US should have negotiated something in return. I wonder if there’s anything that can be done so that companies that use NIH research need to lower the cost charged to Medicaid/Medicare in return

1

Anonymous #20 13w

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5293409

1

Anonymous #21 13w

HIV? No, it’s not. You are though

1

Anonymous #17 13w

what do y’all have against apretude?? it’s basically the same thing but the injections are more often

1

Anonymous #17 13w

I have no clue why people are downvoting but it does look like apretude’s list price isn’t much better. Is insurance covering a significant amount? It looks like trials for doses every 4 months and every 6 months will begin in a year or two, which should provide some competition for this drug (assuming all goes well)

1

Anonymous OP 13w

and?

1

Anonymous #21 13w

The association with HIV and gayness led to the government delaying on getting treatments for HIV and of further stigmatization of gay and queer people. This led to disproportionate rates of death in queer communities too, which, alongside increased rates of suicides and murders, is part of the reason we have so few queer elders alive today. The black stripe on the pride flag mourns those we lost to HIV.

3

Anonymous #3 13w

So yes. HIV treatment is a happy pride.

1