About Big Pharma Pricing
Dear Australian Decision-Makers,
Ancient chinese proverb:
Know Your Enemy.
Here is recent analysis by Reuters (25 March, 2015):
"CEOs at large U.S. companies collectively realized at least $6 billion more in compensation than initially estimated in annual disclosures in the five years after the financial crisis first hit...
...An example is John Martin, the CEO of drug maker Gilead Sciences Inc, who has become the best compensated executive of a major U.S. company since the crisis, when factoring in stock and options.
He realized $400.6 million in total compensation from 2009 to 2013, according to the Reuters analysis of the nearly 300 CEOs tracked by Equilar. That is poised to top $600 million by this summer, mostly because of additional exercises of stock options...
...Gilead had estimated Martin's compensation totaled only $75 million over the five years from 2009 to 2013. But Gilead's shares have climbed nearly 300 percent since the end of 2008 while net income almost quadrupled to $12.1 billion in 2014, fueled by sales of its hepatitis C drug Sovaldi. The company declined to comment for this story."
(
www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/25/compa...#MHKmYx5dbvOTAcar.97)
Here is a link to the Equilar data:
people.equilar.com/bio/john-martin-gilea...ry/6819#.VjnGZpe37z8
Here is an excerpt from FiercePharma (25 March 2015):
"Of course, investors aren't likely to complain about Martin's payoff, because they've seen big payoffs, too. And with the company's hepatitis C franchise jet-fueling revenue past $20 billion in 2014, the gains continued. Gilead hasn't filed its proxy yet this year, so we don't yet know how his pay package fared in that record-breaking year."
(
www.fiercepharma.com/story/600-million-m...-estimate/2015-03-25)
Here is a perspective from Al Jazeerai (21 November 2014):
"Gilead’s price gouging has generated international outrage. In response, the company signed an agreement in September with seven Indian pharmaceutical producers, allowing them to sell generic versions of sofosbuvir and ledipasvir in 91 countries. It is hoped that competition among the Indian companies will result in downward pressure on price so that more people can access the medicines.
While many health advocates, patient groups, media outlets and academics have championed the agreement, it may actually do more harm than good. Gilead portrays itself as a leader in medical innovation, but its real advance is in developing a creative business strategy of managing the competition — and gaining a public-relations boost while doing so. Specifically, Gilead’s agreement quietly undermines India’s patent laws and controls the country’s generic producers. This in turn threatens to reduce competition needed to keep medicine prices low and could ultimately shrink the global supply of affordable medicines."
(
america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/11/p...cals-gileadhepc.html)
Here is some analysis and recommendations from Medecins Sans Frontiers" (19 March 2015)
"Medecins Sans Frontieres urged the generic companies to reject a highly-controversial programme that could compromise people’s treatment and confidentiality. The programme – which places multiple restrictions and demands on people receiving treatment – is designed solely to protect Gilead’s commercial interests, and is unprecedented as far as MSF is aware...
...We’ve never seen anything like Gilead’s anti-diversion programme before, where a company can potentially violate patient confidentiality and compromise treatment outcomes in order to protect its profits...
...MSF today also released a technical analysis of Gilead’s voluntary licence agreement with Indian manufacturers, which excludes 50 middle-income countries, where 49 million people with hepatitis C live, including Thailand, Brazil, China and Morocco...
...Gilead is putting in place a ‘tiered pricing’ strategy for the middle-income countries excluded from its licence, which will likely result in high prices for these developing countries that could range from $2,000 to $15,000 or more per three-month treatment course. Research from Liverpool University shows that sofosbuvir could be produced for roughly $1 per pill, or $101 per treatment course.
“We’re seeing Gilead trying everything it can to squeeze every last drop of profit out of some middle-income and high-burden countries, and millions of people with hepatitis C will have to pay the price”, said Malpani. “We are urging Gilead to make urgent changes to its company policies and its licensing agreements so that millions of people with hepatitis C are not left behind.”"
(
www.msf.org/article/indian-generic-compa...i-diversion%E2%80%99)
Modern business advice:
Caveat Emptor! 
I'm very lucky to be reasonably minimally affected after having had the virus 27 years now, and the likelihood of public treatment being extended to those in my position is pretty low, no matter what magical rabbit the clinics assure us is going to be pulled out of the Ministerial hat any moment now heh
