Agreed.

Unfortunately we signed the TPP which supports big Pharma and big profits. It’s the big gravy train of overpaid fat cats.

Unfortunately this is the way we develop drugs and I have to admit that without it we don’t get the research done.

It is ridiculous but it takes an average of fifteen years and three billion dollars to get a drug to market.

The medications are not S100 they are S80 so Gp’s are going to be able to prescribe. So what is going to happen? Are they all going to stop writing scripts when they get to a specified sum? i don’t think so.

The rate of new infections is declining and we already know that when you treat people in groups of people who inject drugs it significantly reduces new infections so with treatment that should drop even further.

If the drug companies are as greedy as everyone seems to think they will already be working out how to get these meds into pharmacies as quickly as possible. Gastros are getting there patients to return in March /April inline with this announcement. I can’t foresee huge delays.

If they wanted to do the right thing, they could help the 3.5 million people in the U.S. Gilead will milk the cow dry, butcher it, sell the meat and make glue and dogfood out of whats left.
M

I think, as many have discussed here, there has been a lot of focus on the ‘importing of generics’ as an option in the media this past 6 m+. This has made the Big Pharma very agitated, so now the Poli’s and Pharma’s get together and make a deal with a whole lot of media attention, back-slapping and drawing the attention back to them – The HepC Heroes who will save the day!! Giving the general population of HepC sufferers hope and faith that the Gov will pay for their care with no more ‘waiting’ and not to go spending money elsewhere to import generics on their own. They have fiddled with the figures and boosted their budget a bit to sound impressive but, as mentioned, this is money they’ve been spending on the interferon and public clinic tx. With GP’s being able to write the scripts that means less of a burden on the public hospital clinics and hopefully a shorter waitlist.
For now they’ve created a diversion and are keeping all eyes on them and their solution and distracting everyone from alternatives. They will use the next few months until March to make the most of it.

I don’t trust them, it’s typical of the lead up to election time, 2016.

And as a special bonus they get to whip up some public resentment against drug addicts…woo hoo!
Bet that caused some merriment in the halls of power.