Drug makers dismiss outrage over high prices as ‘abomination’

”So it perhaps wasn’t surprising that during a panel discussion here Monday, a Gilead executive was asked how he lives with himself.

Gregg Alton, the executive vice president for corporate and medical affairs, joked that he goes running. Then his tone turned serious as he talked about research, innovation, and the value of life-saving new drugs. “I sleep quite well,” he concluded.”

(With thanks to zhuk from whose post I stole this, and of course the wonderful Leanig himself for his always thought provoking social commentary.)

I think that where these cost-effective studies are shortsighted is that they rarely take into account the numbers of people removed from the work force due to being sick from hepC. OK, so that does not directly affect an insurance company, but it does affect any country which funds its healthcare from public funds, ie. taxpayers.

Instead of having a contributing tax payer, what you have is a person who cannot go to work and needs to draw on the social welfare budget. If you then consider the large cohort of baby boomers coming through with hepC, it becomes worse. If these people are not cured then they are heading for care homes much sooner than would otherwise have been necessary. So factor in building all the extra care homes needed and the extra carers required to work in them and to provide care in the community.

Even if people are treated but treated late, they may have developed a myriad of hepC-related ailments which would have been preventable with early treatment but are now not reversible. It’s too late for them. They are going to need costly support.

Well, at least this report touches on quality of life, which for anybody living with hepc is what probably matters most.
dt

Only part of that video that internet me is Fred Upton. The SOB!