TOPIC:

I find always strange to see political people promising big things before being elected and failing to keep their promises after they are elected.

Recently I see similar things in my country. We have elections in December and suddenly some political guys remembered that there exist people with HCV for which they can engage in a political debate. The only outcome I can see is that some of them are winning popularity.

In terms of accessing the treatment ..... things look like in the past - lack of transparency, ambiguity, promises being made. For instance the promise being made some months ago that from this fall (which is almost gone) F3 patients will also get the subsidized treatment seems to be pending (some days ago there was a news on a big local TV station about the new treatment protocol which still needs to be agreed).....

Somehow this practice of "Make a promise first, find the solution or work later" of the politicians should stop, at least when we are talking about HCV. Apart from not getting the treatment, such practice demotivates people because it creates hopes then creates disappointment, then again hopes and again disappointments.....

Cheers,
RHF

Rather telling just how consistently wrong the US press has been. At this point, one has to take anything they print as suspect, especially when they pontificate about what the President Elect will do, based primarily upon their own political leanings, and their not so excellent tea leaf reading powers.

TPP being dead on arrival is good news.

The fact is, any workable reform of the US healthcare system will require three things: Tort reform, to lower the cost of malpractice insurance, pharmaceutical price reform, for reasons which are all too clear, and a dismantling of the artificial structures which prevent interstate price competition between US health insurance companies.

Even with these reforms, the cost of a full course of DAA treatment will probably remain well out of reach for most Americans (the vast majority of whom cannot hope to meet the $7,000+ per person, per year, deductible to access care under their current government mandated Obamacare insurance plans).

While we really don't know what the new administration will do (or not do) to deal with obscenely high pharmaceutical prices, I agree with Dr. Freeman that generic DAAs will likely continue to be the only viable choice for many of us in the US.

I agree Dr. Freeman 100%

I need to clarify my comments. The TPP had the potential to end or make very difficult the importation for personal use, which to me was the real threat. MSF made statements against TPP as a threat to treating the third world. There is no way in USA that price controls on Pharmaceuticals will ever be instituted. Generics, spearheaded by you, are everyone's savior.

You rock!

1. Politicians have been promising the world since time began.
2. In the USA, TPP is dead. Yay!! (starting in Jan)
3. Also in Jan, Obamacare will be nixed in favor of something else. (anythings better) I believe private HSA's are the answer.

The fundamental problem with Obamacare is not the idea, it's the unaffordability that comes from a health system that charges 2-3 x more to do more or less exactly the same job done by health systems in every other western country.

In Australia Healthcare costs < 10% of GDP

In the USA Healthcare costs > 20% of GDP

In the USA healthcare is so expensive because pretty much every element - drug prices, doctor fees, hospital fees, malpractice insurance fees are too high due to greed, the impact of lobbyists and and the abject failure of generations of politicians - both Democrat and Republican - to fix the damn problems and actually represent the people who pay their salaries via taxes.

No arguments with regard to US health care costs. Using the metrics Dr. Freeman stated, cutting US healthcare costs in half without sacrificing quality of care is absolutely do-able.

The current administration has had their shot at it, and no one wanted to see it work for the common good more than I .

It has not worked. In fact Obamacare has been a spectacular failure. Rather than providing affordable health care for all, it has been exposed at its core as a scheme which has indentured the entire populace to a system which is rigged to pick their pockets on a scale which is difficult to imagine unless one has actually seen it at work.

For Americans with Hep C, it has become a particularly onerous nightmare. On one hand we are forced under penalty of stiff fines to purchase exorbitantly expensive, second rate, catastrophic health care coverage. On the other hand if one can even get to the point where insurance will begin to pay necessary medical expenses, the chances of being denied coverage for lifesaving DAA therapy for HCV are currently between 98 and 99 percent.

By the way, for non-US forum members who are just learning about this - before one can access health insurance to pay medical expenses in the US, there is a $7,000+ per person, per year "deductible" which must be paid out of pocket. This deductible does not include the cost of the insurance itself which is paid monthly.

Yearly increases for the cost of the insurance itself averaged over 10% nationally in 2016. For 2017, the iincrease for the cost of health insurance will average over 25% nationally, with increases in some states exceeding 50%, and in one state (Arizona), exceeding 150%.

A major driver of higher US health care costs has been an unprecedented and unchecked increase in (greed driven) pharmaceutical costs. Take for example the 'Epi-pen' which is a lifesaving emergency self injection device used to counter anaphylactic (allergic) shock.

Pre-Obamacare, a prescription for two Epi-pens was $100. Post Obamacare the price has risen to $700. Politicians, the health care industry, and especially the pharmaceutical companies are lining their pockets as never before, and the current (outgoing) regime has been run out on a rail due in no small part to the well justified outrage of Americans who are absolutely sick and tired of being used and abused in this manner.

Look, the point of all of this is that we in the US were pretty much 'on our own' in terms of seeking out and paying for effective treatment for Hep C. That fact has not fundamentally changed, and even if the new administration is able to get meaningful reforms through (and that is a big 'IF') - it will take years to fully implement.

Those of us with Hep C in the US don't have years to let the politicians sort it out for us, and none of us are foolish enough to believe they'll get it right if they do.

The election is over, but for us - Americans with Hep C - nothing has changed. While the politicians head off to DC to divide up the spoils, we are left to our own resources and devices. Our choice remains "Treat or Die" - and for almost 100% of us generic DAAs remain the best and only option.

Hi Fitz,

reading you last post made me think on the famous "The sky's the limit" - this is a motto which guides many in the world of today ..... when they talk about making money. So, as long as the legal settlements do not forbid it, the high prices for the drugs will continue to exist. The only thing that can really oppose the drug's high prices is the generic medication.
The next thing that can also oppose is the political will, a political will that can impose things like compulsory licensing.
Today's problem seems to be that the "political will" that can change things is actually not being seen and I would also say that it is suffocated by other interests.

Staying passive and waiting helps nobody, apart from those making huge amounts of money by selling drugs on exorbitant prices.
If the HCV patients want to get treated, in the current context in which consistent national healthcare HCV programs are lacking or are under-developed, the patients need to understand they have to become active and engage in the "how to" of getting the generic medication.

RHF

Amen. Well said, guys.

"Obamacare"

Be wary of propaganda! As an outsider can I just say that the throwing about of the above word denotes your problem. Someone has managed to politicise and personalise an attempt to provide better healthcare for all US citizens......and appears to have been so successful in making it about one person that they are no doubt laughing all the way to the bank.

Your problem here isn't your soon to be ex president.....and abolishing the imperfect scheme he attempted to put in place isn't the solution. But someone has managed to get you all referring to it by his name rather that it's correct title and blaming the greed driven price increases on it such that you now appear to believe that getting rid of him and it will solve all your problems as "anything's better". It suggests to me that the vested interests and lobbyists have been working overtime to ensure the man is played rather than the ball. If The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is dismantled expect your politicians from both sides to do what they appear to have done for years and give the ball a spit and polish and throw it back into play. As an observer I see a 'just blame Barack' public relations exercise with no inclination or incentive for them to "fix the damn problems" the doc mentions.

Pharmaceutical prices are excessive globally and this is a problem for even the best health care systems. Generics are one part of the solution, admittedly a vital part to HCV patients like ourselves. On that note, has anyone found out anything more about the current status of the Indian patent challenge?

.

Gaj wrote:
Pharmaceutical prices are excessive globally and this is a problem for even the best health care systems. Generics are one part of the solution, admittedly a vital part to HCV patients like ourselves. On that note, has anyone found out anything more about the current status of the Indian patent challenge?

.

Very few unfortunately.....
"Meantime, the Delhi High Court is in the midst of hearing arguments by several parties on why US pharmaceutical Gilead Sciences’ patent application for hepatitis C drug Sovaldi (sofosbuvir) should be rejected..........
The matter, however, is far from being settled, with the courts and the patent office currently hearing opposing parties."
More about this text here: www.thepharmaletter.com/article/india-pa...compulsory-licensing

Whatever you choose to call it - and our outgoing President was quite proud of the moniker "Obamacare", right up until the moment the tipping point had been reached - the following encapsulates the problem:

"It has not worked. In fact Obamacare has been a spectacular failure. Rather than providing affordable health care for all, it has been exposed at its core as a scheme which has indentured the entire populace to a system which is rigged to pick their pockets on a scale which is difficult to imagine unless one has actually seen it at work."

So, I'm very happy to go back on topic, but understand this: The outgoing administration of which you are so fond GAJ, put a gun to our heads while big government, big pharma, and big insurance looted and pillaged the bank accounts of already hard pressed Americans.

The world press being what it is, I'm not sure you fully grasp the extent to which the US election was a complete rejection and repudiation of the above described practices and policies. In fact, in reading your 'rebuttal', it is quite clear you do not.

No doubt big pharma will continue to fight tooth and nail for their obscene margins, but for Generic DAAs, the train has left the station. That ship has sailed. We know it, Gilead knows it, and increasingly the entire world knows it.

If they [Gilead] are successful in quashing the Indian supply chain, we will simply source medications elsewhere. Bangladesh for example, or Vietnam, or any one of a hundred other countries where licensing laws are non-applicable.

Dr. Freeman has been very active in blazing that trail, which one can already foresee will eventually become a super highway for access to lifesaving medications.

The world wide market is simply too large and compelling, and the need so overwhelming, that supply will inevitably seek out demand - no matter what artificial barriers are imposed.

Need proof the writing is on the wall? Gilead is already distancing itself from reliance on HCV medication cash flow, and looking elsewhere to source its cash 'pipelines'.

Preferring a 'captive' market, they [Gilead] have now set their sights on buying up proprietary cancer drugs (their greed and evil obviously knows no bounds) . www.biospace.com/News/gilead-ceo-targets...tions-with-21/418644

I'm sorry my comments were seen as implying support for your outgoing administration (they weren't) and a commentary on the election result (they weren't). I do hope the US evolves affordable medical care for its citizens, whatever form that takes.

With the election of Trump, nothing is going to improve as far as drug prices are concerned. Trump is going to ensure that Pharma prices remain where they are. The USA is the last place where any kind of price control on drugs will be instituted.

And it is truly disheartening that our once free press has been neutered by corporate consolidation. There are countless articles railing against the high price of drugs, how something needs to be done.

They print this so people feel like there is hope of change. But it's a con job. There will be no change. And not once an honest article about how generics can be imported. That is by design; they don't want people to know they can bypass the corrupt system that benefits the wealthy class. They want people to wait until they are dying, and the insurance pays full price.

But there is some hope - US customs, and most other countries, allows an individual to import 12 weeks of generic treatment from overseas. Not a well known fact, but it is the truth. You have to pay for it yourself. But there are providers willing to take your dollars and give you salvation.

If you are reading this, stop hoping and wishing someone will help you besides yourself. These drugs are some of the most expensive drugs available in first world countries. You only qualify for treatment through insurance when you are dying.

But if you aren't dying, and want treatment, for $1600 or less you can get treatment through the REDEMPTION trials or an approved vendor. They can ship to most countries. I was F0 fibroscan, would never qualify for treatment under health insurance in USA, but here I got 12 weeks of generic Harvoni, and now I am SVR 24 - CURED. I used to feel like a tired old man, and now I feel like a little kid :>)



VIVA FIXHEPC

Apparently, Big Pharma isn't resting all that easy at the moment.

From Bloomberg: www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-...es-allergan-ceo-says

And there's this from The Hill: thehill.com/policy/healthcare/267005-tru...egotiate-drug-prices

So, who knows....