James-Freeman-facebook wrote:
- How Hep C has impacted on you and your family
- The mental torment of knowing cure exists but is unavailable
- Your views on the Buyers Club and parallel imports being facilitated by others
- Your views about Big Pharma pricing
- Your suggestions about what Government can do to help (without breaking the budget)
Well, I'm not an Australian citizen, but I just spent 24 days there and I've been following this forum from maybe day one or two, as well as Greg's blog from before he headed out on his trip to India. So while I'm not going to address the first four suggested topics for now, I will address the fifth.
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There is no doubt that every politician as well as every relevant agency or bureaucratic body would actually love to help everyone with this disease. There is also no doubt that treating everyone in need at Gilead's prices would put serious pressure on the health care budget.
But there is one thing that can be done NOW .... IMMEDIATELY!
It will cost the government next to nothing, and has the potential to save the taxpayers millions upon millions of dollars. It will require no negotiation with Gilead or other patent holders, and require no new legislation. And it will have the added bonus of putting pressure on Gilead and the others to come to the table with a better offer.
The resistance of doctors to the idea of prescribing generics and the reluctance of clinics to overseeing the treatment should be addressed clearly and unequivocally.
The government and all relevant agencies should draft an
Official Policy Statement, publish it, send copies of it to all relevant health care providers and their clinics, and get the word out through the media with all necessary repetition to be sure people get the message.
The
Official Policy Statement should make these three points, clearly and unequivocally:
1) All doctors and clinics are free to prescribe generics to their patients and to oversee the treatment with generics with no fear of reprisal, censure or other negative repercussions.
2) All patients are free to source and import up to 90 days of generic medications for their own use with no fear of reprisal, censure, or other negative repercussions.
3) Individuals, doctors, clinics, pharmacies, philanthropic entities, etc. are free to assist patients in the sourcing, importing, testing, compounding and shipment of these generics, provided they are doing so with no financial gain in the purchasing transaction, and may do so with no fear of reprisal, censure or other negative repercussions.