TOPIC:

Article about AbbVie's potential to take market share from Gilead.

www.investors.com/news/technology/how-ab...patitis-c-franchise/

So, bonus points for Abbvie investors, then?

Still, its a pity that curing the world of a major disease is still something the business world fails to understand...

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First there was prohibition and gangsters like Al Capone. Then the wise guys moved to Las Vegas and organised crime became legal.

Now there is Big Pharma, and organised crime is even more legal and widespread.

Bastard gangsters, all of them!

here is a few that have been riling me past day or 2- in this one, Forbes, author defends Gilead pricing as reasonable- the comments are infuriating- our lives are treated like shoe sizes. I made a comment, it survived 2 hours, but it must have hurt the rich boys feelings as it is gone now. I'm trying another thing- replying to the existing ones, lets see. I am going to keep going back. www.forbes.com/sites/johnlamattina/2017/...-drugs/#30fdbe1aaf68
And this- lawyers fees- could cure whole countries for this one case between 2 disgraceful corporations:
l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww....d2BGzUN13lConDvOr2Vw

Hi Hazel & klhilde,

my view is that both articles are in fact a red herring. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_herring), as it tries to sidetrack the reader by raising an irrelevant (or less relevant) topic (e.g. there is competition between Big Pharma companies or HCV drugs are prices in US similarly as in the rest of the world .... ) and afterwards claiming that the original issue (people die because they cannot afford the high prices) has been settled.

@Hazel: I do agree: the article from Forbes is rubbish.
Firstly, the title which is attracting the attention, is not sustained by the content of the article. The conclusions at the end of the article does not sustain why in fact someone should not confuse Shrekli with Hep C drugs when it comes to prices. One might guess why, but the author should have had explained better his view.

Secondly, this LaMattina guy is attacking Froma Harrop saying that her op-ed is fraught with inaccuracies, yet he misses the fact that Froma Harrop mentioned 1 valid argument which was sustained by the content of her article:
- Clearly, the industry needs a new business model in which costs of development are fairly shared. The same goes for breaks on price.

This is a strong conclusion of Froma Harrop that LaMattina is not attacking.
What he does instead is to put in some context (aka the red herring) to distract the attention and induce an idea about how "good" Gilead is.

And thirdly, the conclusions he presents at the end of his article are missing the issue raised by Froma Harrop (that the industry needs a new business model... ) and he formulates his attack on her on the generally valid statement which is not targeting the patent holder's of Hep C drugs in particular, rather the inflated prices in US for the healthcare:

Froma Harop: "and
-The real problem in American health care is not that we can't afford what we need. Other countries with far less resources provide as good or better health care than we do. The problem is that, by international standards, we pay inflated prices for just about everything." (yeah, I could accept this argument without too much debate)

LaMattina: "the new Hep c drugs... are priced, for the vast majority of Americans, similarly to the rest of the world" (and does this "red herring" means that the rest of the world is paying a fair price??? )

So LaMattina clearly missed the point that Froma Harop raised and his attack on her shows just how much unprepared he wrote the article.

I just threw the article from LaMattina into the latrine...

Cheers,
RHF

The real problem is that greed has consumed humanity, especially the wealthy and disloyal corporations only interested in profits. There is no mission associated with health care. They may as well be producing pesticides. It's only about profitability. It turns out human beings are no better than roaches in terms of compassion.

Thank God for Fix Hep C. On a side note, a Google search for generic hep c medication now has Fix Hep C first after paid sponsors. So there are apparently some good people working at Google. So those interested in searching for a cure can easily find this opportunity. For those who don't search, tragically they are doomed.

Great comment on Forbes Kevin! and Greedfighter- perfect "they may as well be making pesticides". I would like to use that line.

Thanks Hazel.

Little by little I'm getting better at writing my comments such that they get past moderation. Notice my strategically placed appeal to authority.

And the mention of forums and generics and medical tourism seems quite innocently placed, does it not?
But anyone motivated to click on the story would likely be bright enough to hit Google after reading my comment ... or at least I hope so.
______________________

And while I agree with what everyone is saying about the companies' greed, we still have to be realistic about this.

We need a change to patent law ... That's not happening in the foreseeable future.
We need to get the word out about generics ... Try as we may, our penetration is comparatively small.

So while we're figuring out how to make a bigger impact, all we have for the majority of people is market pressures. And with Gilead, the attempt to protect/defend market share is likely the only thing that will bring any noticable results.

Hi Hazel,

Please feel free to use any of my comments as your own.