I wholeheartedly disagree. Every case should be judged on its own merits. Governments are great at ‘one size fits all’ , but any engineer knows the fallacy in that way of thinking. In the US they now want to remove urinals in the mens room out of fear of ‘discrimination’ Puhleeese…..

“….that the TGA regs captures that is unfortunate, not incompetent……..” So, knowing it’s wrong, but doing it anyways is ‘the best way’? Unacceptable in my book.

Exactly. It’s actually the beginning of socialism. Same medical treatments, same car, same income, same opportunity, etc. After all, we’re all the same. Hogwash. That promotes mediocrity, at best. The individual is the smallest minority. “Individuals, unite!!!” Wait………

CJ you just said it so well!

I haven’t read here for awhile either and I’ve been sitting here reading and feeling just plain sad

Such a wealth of information on this site. It has been a highlight in my life to have seen such integrity, selflessness and the strive to help and save lives that I’ve seen here. All I can say is ‘hear hear’ to what everyone has posted, and thank you Dr Freeman for being a man of integrity, courage and for all you have given!

James-Freeman-Facebook wrote:

Redirecting to an overseas forum seems sensible and suggestions are welcome as to which one (or ones) we should suggest to Australian users so they can find mutual support somewhere in cyberspace.

I hesitate to suggest other sites in case in so doing I merely bring down on someone else’s head the legal difficulties that Dr Freeman and FixHepC have encountered. And one of the unique attractions of this forum has been that Dr Freeman, through his numerous posts, has generously given us the benefit of his unrivalled expertise on matters to do with hepatitis c and its treatment.

But, nevertheless, in case anyone is unable to take advantage of the technical means to evade the post 15th June geoblocking (perhaps because, like me, they don’t know how to) there are some potential alternatives which may be worth exploring.

There is mgalbrai’s site which I assume is based in the US:

http://forums.delphiforums.com/generichcvtx/messages/1/fixhepc

and also Alsdad’s site which I assume is based in the UK:

http://killthedragon.freeforums.net/

(I believe the original reason Alsdad set up this site was precisely for this contingency: to act as a potential refuge in case of FixHepC being closed down in whole or in part.)

However, fleeing to another site may only prove to be a stopgap unless the underlying legal problem can be addressed. Alsdad’s site in particular could be vulnerable because the UK/EU regulations seem to be similar to the Australian ones.

If the FixHepC forum can be geoblocked in Australia because of alleged infringement of Australian medical advertising laws could we also see it, sometime in the future, being blocked in some or all of the EU countries? This would be not because the forum is based in those countries but because it would otherwise be accessible there infringing their own respective national/ EU drug advertising laws.

Greedfighter informs us that Harvoni is openly advertised on American TV. This prompted me to google the issue. It seems that amongst developed countries only the USA and, I think, New Zealand don’t ban DTC (direct-to-consumer) advertising of prescription only medicines. So on the basis of worst possible case thinking could we end up in a situation that this forum, or forums like it, are blocked in every developed nation apart from the USA and New Zealand?

Hello Tricia and CJ,

Reading your posts made me think on the fact that greed is indeed a strong force against which one may not so easily oppose.
Looking into the past history however, greed was challenged / opposed by spiritual leaders. They do have a kind of additional power that the normal people may not exercise with full efficiency.

I would imagine a nice round table with living spiritual leaders, like Dalai Lama, Deepak Chopra, Pope Francis, Paulo Coehlo, Thich Nhat Hanh and why not Rhonda Byrne talking about Harvoni vs generic drugs from India. I wonder what would they sustain? The profit of pharmaceuticals companies or the lives of the 150 million patients with Hep C which cannot get the treatment because of the greed….

Too bad that reaching such spiritual leaders is in fact a kind of mission impossible, I doubt one can simply write them an e-mail…..

Cheers,
RHF

Gaj,
We can copy things from this forum and post them on our sites right? There’s nothing that stops us from doing that. This forum is public.

Whatever happens, I want to thank all of you, for your acceptance and willingness to help others. You’re an amazing bunch.

P

I don’t often write to politicians but I think I will over this. I’m guessing that the TGA is part of the Health Minister’s portfolio?

Page11 – “advertising complaints responded to in a timely manner using a risk-based approach and measures taken to support compliance by advertisers”…. So, who has complained?
Heading get down to page 21 it seems Dr Freeman is mitigating a known risk (public access to therapeutic products is restricted or delayed) but still is being hounded