Thanks V. All good questions.
"The main problem with hepatitis C today is the price of treatment set by Gilead, coupled with the fact that they have managed to secure a near-global monopoly through crafty licensing deals and market segmentation."
I think the main problem, and not just for today, is that Gilead have set a precedent and gotten away with it. Do you really think that this crap stops with Gilead? I don't see other companies advertising that their new drugs are going to be half the price. I hope the future proves me wrong.
What has happened is due to systemic failure of all the parties. Gilead just happen to be at the sharp end right now. The government is at the base and there are many other moving parts in the middle. I don't advocate a root and branch clearout, and I'm not clever enough to figure out what "tweaks" are needed to turn this around, but I do think that pointing the finger just at Gilead is not going to cut it. The Gilead monster didn't just happen on its own. It is the tip of the iceberg. It was spawned by a whole system that made it virtually inevitable that this would happen sooner or later.
Geez, when I started this I really didn't expect this concept to be so roundly rejected, it seemed so self-evident to me. I've been scared of the virus, I've been scared of ordering the gererics, but I'm more scared now because if you guys don't get it then nobody will. Which means that it's a done deal for all the Gileads of the future, and that future looks even more bleak.
dt