Because he can. And there's no generic available. So fuck you.
Prices for a cancer drug called lomustine have skyrocketed nearly 1,400 percent since 2013, putting a potentially life-saving treatment out of reach for patients suffering from brain tumors and Hodgkin's lymphoma. Though the 40-year-old medication is no longer protected by patents, no generic version is available.More details at CBS News.
According to the Wall Street Journal, lomustine was sold by Bristol-Myers Squib for years under the brand name CeeNU at a price of about $50 a capsule for the highest dose. The drugmaker sold lomustine in 2013 to a little-known Miami startup called NextSource, which proceeded to hike lomustine's price nine times since. It now charges about $768 per pill for the medication.
Photo of Nextsource CEO Robert Dicrisci via BoingBoing.
If it's no longer patented, what is preventing someone else from making a generic version?
ReplyDeleteThis kind of thing makes me immeasurably sad :(
There isn't a significantly large profit available to make dealing with an expensive multi-year lawsuit worth it.
DeleteThese people should be prosecuted for crimes against humanity, specifically utilitarian genocide.
ReplyDeleteAnother case of capitalism isn't the answer.
ReplyDeleteNever saw a better candidate for a malignant brain tumor.
ReplyDeleteI'm voting for flesh-eating bacteria. Or a meteorite in the forehead.
ReplyDeleteA friend offered this interesting take: "Obviously, this kind of stuff offends one's moral sensibilities, and the outrage is directed at the current manufacturer that had boosted the price. I wonder, however, if some blame should also be pointed toward Bristol-Myers Squib, the previous owner who had sold the drug at reasonable prices. It would be interesting to see how BMS valued the drug to potential manufacturing buyers, and if the purchase price between BMS and NextSource had a huge price increase baked into the valuation. In other words, I wonder if not only BMS knew this would be the result after selling this business, but in fact counted on it and was paid for it. I have no knowledge one way or the other, obviously."
ReplyDeleteThere is no change in CCNU prices in outside of USA, it is quite affordable drug. There are several manufacturers and there is no shortage of CCNU. Problem in in the USA system of pricing drugs.
ReplyDelete