TOPIC: Australian PBS Listing - Almost Heaven

If you're a John Denver fan make sure you check this out:

fixhepc.com/blog/item/33-pbs-listing-almost-heaven.html

Or if you just want to Hear it from the Grange Hermitage of the Grapevine, read Minister's or the AMA's official statements, or read Australian Doctor's commentary on the PBS listing you'll find it all here.

And Forrest. Forrest Gump.

Ok so I did some calculations and with one billion spent on generic Daa's @$1800 per tx then that's a possible cure for 555.555 HCV patients
So that's Australia, New Zealand and US VA Marines and some left over..

Approx 250 000 Australia
50 000 NZL
230 000 VA Marines.

Politically that would be nearly impossible to do, but the outcome would be as you predict.

What we've got in Australia is pretty much the best case scenario likely to happen in the real world.

Despite the price and notional pricing cap being "commercial in confidence" on 1st March I'm going to be able to walk into my local Chemist and get them to look up the price - that's what they have to pay to get the medications in from the distributor. They are then paid back by the PBS in due course.

How the government plans to work the price cap is fascinating - $0 distributor invoices - but then how do you know some pharmacies are not stocking up? I assume the government is going to have to be the sole distributor to make it work.

Yes the eyes of the world will be on Australia to see how it all plays out, I imagine there will be some hiccups in the beginning which is to be expected. Either way its a massive step forward for all those Aussies living with HCV. A truly beautiful Xmas present, I really hope this spurs a flow on effect for the rest of the world.

Yes Tina, I agree. An outstanding negotiation, thank you to whoever was responsible. (Does anyone know their name(s)?)

No doubt what Dr James and Greg Jefferys have been doing helped.

Merry Christmas to all.

Right on there Joy, there is NO doubt in my mind that if it were not for The Buyers Club, Doc & Greg that this may well not of happened. I know the politicians will be patting themselves on the back for doing a good job but hey we know the real truth aye.

They certainly put Tassie on the map.

Gotta hand it to the politicians, they played a devious hand. In the end, all they really had to do was say NO to Gilead's prices and turn a blind eye to the use of generics in their country. Then market forces prevailed. South Africa set the precedent years ago over HIV meds. Thus the world has been reminded for the 2nd time how it is done.

So to all the pussies sitting in positions of power out there, looking on while hepC meds are rationed and the worldwide hepC epidemic rages I say - get your act together. When Australia is declared free of HepC and the spotlight turns to questions on why your country is still infected, heads are going to roll.

I don't doubt that none of this would have come about without the Doc and Greg's courageous stance on the use of generics. This has been a momentous year for hepC treatment. I have lived through it myself. At the start of the year I had no prospects of obtaining the meds I needed. By the end of the year I had my meds, there were multiple choices of meds and trusted methods of obtaining them. When the books are written on how all this came to pass, those in the medical profession, the doctors, the specialists, who stood on the sidelines and refused to help, will be seen as yesterday's men and women.

dt

Hi dointime,


"I don't doubt that none of this would have come about without the Doc and Greg's courageous stance on the use of generics. This has been a momentous year for hepC treatment. I have lived through it myself. At the start of the year I had no prospects of obtaining the meds I needed. By the end of the year I had my meds, there were multiple choices of meds and trusted methods of obtaining them. "

says it all.

I'm happy for all people with hepatitis C who live in a country as big as a continent, Australia.
And I think they rushed because of the work of special people like dr. James Freeman and Greg Jefferys.
I hope that the example of Australia will be taken over by other countries.
Success in getting treatment to all, in the coming year!

isaing4 wrote:
Yes isaing4 we are lucky in that sense in Australia, but a very expensive waste of money which could be going elsewhere if we chose to use generics. Politics ARGH,,,, I hope also some governments overseas will decide to open the back door also and let in the the generics from the Beacons, Inceptas and Natcos etc, we can dream perhaps,,,

South Africa showed the way with HIV, I hope some people in power can see the logic of a population that is cured of hepc and can once again contribute instead of drowning in this miserable viral curse for years on end.

Speaking to various liver clinics in Sydney they have 2-3 month waiting lists already for the DAAs from Greeead, they also do not intend to ramp (put on more staff) up as on the DAAs we need little management, people I know are still logging into gp2u to get scripts, a month or two or three or four of new life is worth every penny, one person actually said to me "why should the taxpayer foot the bill for my stupid mistake 30 years ago, I can afford it so I am going ahead with gp2u and getting cured long before the liver clinics in Sydney can see me"

And yes I agree without Dr James intervention and Greg Jefferies ground breaking work we would not be where we are now, Australians of the year votes for the pair of em, the bloody UN and WHO should be thanking them for goodness sakes.

Subvert the dominant paradigm ! Always ask "WHY?" and always ask WHY NOT?

jim

"Yes isaing4 we are lucky in that sense in Australia, but a very expensive waste of money which could be going elsewhere if we chose to use generics. Politics ARGH,,,, I hope also some governments overseas will decide to open the back door also and let in the the generics from the Beacons, Inceptas and Natcos etc, we can dream perhaps,,,"

Jimmy, do you mean if we choose Not to use generics surely you'd save money bu using them.

Can someone explain this to me;

I think its being suggested Australia is paying very little per treatment once they spend a X hundred million per
year then the manufacturers kick in and give it free. Am I right.

It sounds like a great deal for you guys, I would think like others its down to The revolution started with generics!

Hi Sir,

<edit> Yes, I believe that is what Jimmy is saying, generics would be cheaper and we could use the saved money elsewhere.

Based on current Indian/Pakistani generics bulk buy prices it would appear possible to treat the whole Australian HCV population of approx. 230,000 for less than half a billion A$ (including those like myself who require 24wks). Yet our government has chosen the brand name path for one billion to treat what will probably turn out to be only a small proportion of those infected.

So:

Generics
A$500,000,000/230,000 = A$2,174 or US$1,522 avg per treatment max cost if everyone wants treatment.

Or

Branded
A$1,000,000,000/230,000 = A$4,348 or US$3,440 avg per treatment assuming we can process at least 46,000 treatments per year (but we pay the full billion either way)

IMHO the first option sounds like better economics and I suspect average cost would be significantly less than the generous price I have allowed.

And a spare half a billion dollars is quite a bit of money that could be used by our medical system to treat other ailments.

But what happens if Labor win the next election , are the Liberals PBS promises binding?
OR
If the economy takes a dive there may be caveats on who gets what when. Harvoni maybe only available to those who are very sick and may need another liver.
It could be a year before the average Joe gets Harvoni via the PBS system, so thank goodness for the generic versions available.

Sure, absolutely Generics would be way less then brand names I wasn't sure what he
was suggesting you cleared it up nicely.

No doubt,if every country spent on Generics everyone would be treated for far less then is being spent,
then you also have cancer drugs the same could be applied too them.

if your assumption is correct, at 3/4 k per treatment its the lowest prices any rich country has
manage to negotiate that I am aware of which is amazing.


I guess, my over all feeling is if the pricing is around 2/3/4 K per treatment its a fantastic result for you
guys, I would hope it means the rest of the world starts to think about trying to lower what they pay.

Its obvious it can be done.