Forum Replies Created
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Hi Vororo,
I’m not sure how we would apply different policies for rich versus poor countries? Who gets to define which is which? And what is rich enough to be on a level playing field rather than the tiered group? Thus my comment that per capita GDP is probably the fairest means, each according to what they can pay. (oh crap, I sound like Marx
) The profit margins you quote are the reported profit margins of those businesses, and in many cases may not fully reflect the true profit margins. I’m not an accountant either but I’ve spent my fair share of time working with them to help the bottom line in large corporations. The fact that Gilead seem to have managed to circumvent any sense of social responsibility in their pricing doesn’t give me a great deal of faith in their adhering to anything more than the minimum legal requirement with regard to their financial reporting. I do believe they will be doing everything in their power to maximise their expenses and minimise their income. No doubt they will be doing the same as (and probably more than) many large multinational corporations do such as deferred income, purchase of raw materials at high prices from affiliated companies, loans from subsidiary companies that require high interest (therefore deductible) payments rather than using cash to purchase new business opportunities, high executive salaries to reward their diligence, educational support for physicians, massive marketing and yes, probably a fair bit of lobbying. The list will be very extensive.
I suspect that what is fundamentally wrong with the pharmaceutical industry pervades others too. There have always been greedy people but these days too many seem to see greed as a virtue and something to be aspired to. Money and profit has become the sole driving force of industry rather than the means to an end in measuring how well society and community is supporting its members (gawd, I’m really channeling Karl now
). For many items like the iPhone I mentioned earlier that probably isn’t so important, it is a luxury that all of us can live without if we really must…..gen Y excepted of course. But medicines and health are too important with their need to a great extent outside of our control for them to be auctioned off for the highest price. I’m not fully certain how we achieve that. The ideal would be for governments and insurers to take a combined negotiating stand but as Mike points out I’m not sure there is the will to do that when they can just pass costs back to the long suffering public or their members. In the mean time we can continue down the path started in the HIV era and now carried on with the current HCV buyers clubs where we do have a community of voices who can supply publicity and pressure for fairer outcomes for all while sourcing generics for personal use.
G3a since ’78 – Dx ’12 – F4 (2xHCC)
24wk Tx – PEG/Riba/Dac 2013 relapsed
24wk Tx – Generic Sof/Dac/Riba 2015/16 relapsed
16wk Tx – 12/01/17 -> 03/05/17 NS3/NS5a + Generic Sof
SVR7 – 22/06/17 UND
SRV12 – 27/07/17 UND
SVR24 – 26/10/17 UND
Tommy wrote:$92 x 3 = $276 per twelve week treatment
So this is the price right now for generics if I was to order from one of the legit pharmacies in India from fixhepc?
Last I checked about 6 weeks ago it was $900.00Err, no. That price is only available to people like the Indian state Haryana (Rohtak is its capital) in the news story, with a population of 28 million. That is why I pointed out that it was a large volume bulk price.
G3a since ’78 – Dx ’12 – F4 (2xHCC)
24wk Tx – PEG/Riba/Dac 2013 relapsed
24wk Tx – Generic Sof/Dac/Riba 2015/16 relapsed
16wk Tx – 12/01/17 -> 03/05/17 NS3/NS5a + Generic Sof
SVR7 – 22/06/17 UND
SRV12 – 27/07/17 UND
SVR24 – 26/10/17 UND
WOW! Fantastic news London Girl. Congratulations on your successful treatment. Celebrations are in order. Enjoy!
G3a since ’78 – Dx ’12 – F4 (2xHCC)
24wk Tx – PEG/Riba/Dac 2013 relapsed
24wk Tx – Generic Sof/Dac/Riba 2015/16 relapsed
16wk Tx – 12/01/17 -> 03/05/17 NS3/NS5a + Generic Sof
SVR7 – 22/06/17 UND
SRV12 – 27/07/17 UND
SVR24 – 26/10/17 UND
Congratulations GF! 
And thanks for all your work spreading the word.
G3a since ’78 – Dx ’12 – F4 (2xHCC)
24wk Tx – PEG/Riba/Dac 2013 relapsed
24wk Tx – Generic Sof/Dac/Riba 2015/16 relapsed
16wk Tx – 12/01/17 -> 03/05/17 NS3/NS5a + Generic Sof
SVR7 – 22/06/17 UND
SRV12 – 27/07/17 UND
SVR24 – 26/10/17 UND
That’s worth framing!
G3a since ’78 – Dx ’12 – F4 (2xHCC)
24wk Tx – PEG/Riba/Dac 2013 relapsed
24wk Tx – Generic Sof/Dac/Riba 2015/16 relapsed
16wk Tx – 12/01/17 -> 03/05/17 NS3/NS5a + Generic Sof
SVR7 – 22/06/17 UND
SRV12 – 27/07/17 UND
SVR24 – 26/10/17 UND
I’m going to argue no, or not exactly, to that. I do believe that in the world of pharmaceuticals the originator (or in the case of Sofosbuvir, the purchaser of the IP) is entitled to some higher level of patent protected reward for their efforts in researching and/or developing the product. On the other hand I don’t believe that the ROI that is currently being extracted from the sick by pricing of “$1000 pills” is morally justifiable.
While $92 x 3 = $276 per twelve week treatment is an excellent price it is a very large volume bulk price for a generic product that only incurs a 7% licence fee to the originator, in a country that has a per capita GDP that is only around seven times that $276 price.
I don’t believe that an iPhone one size more or less fits all world pricing model is valid in the context of medicines so maybe worldwide a model that allocates patent protected pricing based on per capita income would be an idea that’s time has come? A rate of 1/7 to 1/10 of GDP per treatment as per the above story in India would work out at $4-6k across much of Western Europe and $5-7k for US and Australian type countries with the rest of the world at various lower tiers. And possibly a shorter period of ‘sales’ patent that takes effect from the time the product hits the market to incentivise the manufacturers to negotiate and encourage early treatment programs. The actual ratio of GPD vs patent length should be balanced to give best outcome.
I know those sound like high prices compared with generics but they are just my suggestions of pricing levels that would still provide very strong incentives to big pharma to continue to invest in new product development while allowing governments or insurance companies to cost effectively fund treatment for all without being bankrupted. However, this model should also retain the ability for private individuals to self fund import of generics from cheaper markets if they are unable to access through insurance or government provision. What do others think?
G3a since ’78 – Dx ’12 – F4 (2xHCC)
24wk Tx – PEG/Riba/Dac 2013 relapsed
24wk Tx – Generic Sof/Dac/Riba 2015/16 relapsed
16wk Tx – 12/01/17 -> 03/05/17 NS3/NS5a + Generic Sof
SVR7 – 22/06/17 UND
SRV12 – 27/07/17 UND
SVR24 – 26/10/17 UND
Congratulations RHF, wonderful news to wake to! 
….and thank you for your huge efforts over the last six months in translating so much information for your fellow Romanians.
G3a since ’78 – Dx ’12 – F4 (2xHCC)
24wk Tx – PEG/Riba/Dac 2013 relapsed
24wk Tx – Generic Sof/Dac/Riba 2015/16 relapsed
16wk Tx – 12/01/17 -> 03/05/17 NS3/NS5a + Generic Sof
SVR7 – 22/06/17 UND
SRV12 – 27/07/17 UND
SVR24 – 26/10/17 UND
ALT and AST are released from damaged cells. Everyone has some levels as part of the wear and tear of daily life but most people with HCV have raised levels although the amount they are raised varies depending on the damage occurring when the test was done. Even though your levels were within the average normal range prior to treatment you still had raised levels compared with your normal as shown by them decreasing x2 and x4 during treatment.
G3a since ’78 – Dx ’12 – F4 (2xHCC)
24wk Tx – PEG/Riba/Dac 2013 relapsed
24wk Tx – Generic Sof/Dac/Riba 2015/16 relapsed
16wk Tx – 12/01/17 -> 03/05/17 NS3/NS5a + Generic Sof
SVR7 – 22/06/17 UND
SRV12 – 27/07/17 UND
SVR24 – 26/10/17 UND
G3a since ’78 – Dx ’12 – F4 (2xHCC)
24wk Tx – PEG/Riba/Dac 2013 relapsed
24wk Tx – Generic Sof/Dac/Riba 2015/16 relapsed
16wk Tx – 12/01/17 -> 03/05/17 NS3/NS5a + Generic Sof
SVR7 – 22/06/17 UND
SRV12 – 27/07/17 UND
SVR24 – 26/10/17 UND
Yes, and didn’t notice any difference between compounded (capsules) and formulated (tablets). The anti depressant tablets you are thinking of are slow release. They are designed to gradually release the active ingredients over an extended period of several hours so you get a small steady dose which is what you want with something designed to ‘stabilise’ you. On the other hand HCV DAAs are designed to dissolve and release the full dose almost immediately they enter your stomach so that it is absorbed into your bloodstream rapidly.
G3a since ’78 – Dx ’12 – F4 (2xHCC)
24wk Tx – PEG/Riba/Dac 2013 relapsed
24wk Tx – Generic Sof/Dac/Riba 2015/16 relapsed
16wk Tx – 12/01/17 -> 03/05/17 NS3/NS5a + Generic Sof
SVR7 – 22/06/17 UND
SRV12 – 27/07/17 UND
SVR24 – 26/10/17 UND
b) into treatment, a sudden change with increase in energy; over time I got the feeling this was physical and not just a mental (‘I’m cured and I give my self licence to feel good’
reaction.^^^^
This!!!We all seem to vary in the speed and extent that this virus affects us but almost everyone’s story of the changes brought about by these medications seems to include variations of the above.
G3a since ’78 – Dx ’12 – F4 (2xHCC)
24wk Tx – PEG/Riba/Dac 2013 relapsed
24wk Tx – Generic Sof/Dac/Riba 2015/16 relapsed
16wk Tx – 12/01/17 -> 03/05/17 NS3/NS5a + Generic Sof
SVR7 – 22/06/17 UND
SRV12 – 27/07/17 UND
SVR24 – 26/10/17 UND
Hi Donna,
Apart from the lack of sleep there are a lot of physical and emotional changes happening for most of us while on this treatment so you’re not alone there. I had difficulty controlling my feelings at the same stage as you but it did settle down with time. (I was almost blubbering over pictures of cute puppies let alone interactions with people.
). For the insomnia I learnt not to fret about getting back to sleep but rather to just relax and lie there and rest even though I was awake, often that allowed me to drift in and out of a light doze for a couple of hours which helped. I also saw my GP and he prescribed some sleeping pills but because I wasn’t keen on taking those too often I just used them once or twice a week when I felt really exhausted or needed a good night’s sleep before an important day. Again, as treatment progressed I found I was able to adjust and get enough sleep to keep me going.
G3a since ’78 – Dx ’12 – F4 (2xHCC)
24wk Tx – PEG/Riba/Dac 2013 relapsed
24wk Tx – Generic Sof/Dac/Riba 2015/16 relapsed
16wk Tx – 12/01/17 -> 03/05/17 NS3/NS5a + Generic Sof
SVR7 – 22/06/17 UND
SRV12 – 27/07/17 UND
SVR24 – 26/10/17 UND
Well, Gilead are always going choose their words very carefully to paint the picture in the best possible light for them. More important is what the umpire was reported to say:
A spokesman for the European Patent Office told us “some of the patent claims were no longer found to be admissible under the patent and, therefore, were changed. It’s true it was changed in scope … The patent stands, but certain features originally in the claims no longer figure.”
The EPO also issued a statement saying that Sovaldi, “as claimed in the version of the patent granted is no longer contained in this form of the patent.” ]
So, um, yeah, the patent still stands……but it has been weakened and restricted in its scope.
G3a since ’78 – Dx ’12 – F4 (2xHCC)
24wk Tx – PEG/Riba/Dac 2013 relapsed
24wk Tx – Generic Sof/Dac/Riba 2015/16 relapsed
16wk Tx – 12/01/17 -> 03/05/17 NS3/NS5a + Generic Sof
SVR7 – 22/06/17 UND
SRV12 – 27/07/17 UND
SVR24 – 26/10/17 UND
Hi Donna,
Lack of sleep can be a problem on these meds. Here is a post from Dr Freeman on the subject.
https://fixhepc.com/forum/experts-corner/598-how-do-i-fix-my-insomnia.html#8330
G3a since ’78 – Dx ’12 – F4 (2xHCC)
24wk Tx – PEG/Riba/Dac 2013 relapsed
24wk Tx – Generic Sof/Dac/Riba 2015/16 relapsed
16wk Tx – 12/01/17 -> 03/05/17 NS3/NS5a + Generic Sof
SVR7 – 22/06/17 UND
SRV12 – 27/07/17 UND
SVR24 – 26/10/17 UND
In more good news for New Zealand patients the latest Spring 2016 NZHF “Talking Hep C” magazine is out now and includes a significant article by leading Hepatologist and researcher Professor Ed Gane that provides important information for New Zealanders with HCV.
Starting on page 6 he writes about the roll out of community (GP) based prescribing of Viekera Pak for genotype 1 patients and how to access it.
He then goes on to discuss personal importation of generic medications by genotype 2-6 patients who can’t or won’t wait for Pharmac funding of DAAs including step by step instructions on how to access the FixHepC Redemption e-Trials starting on page 8.It is reassuring to see such an influential doctor supporting their patient’s best interests.
G3a since ’78 – Dx ’12 – F4 (2xHCC)
24wk Tx – PEG/Riba/Dac 2013 relapsed
24wk Tx – Generic Sof/Dac/Riba 2015/16 relapsed
16wk Tx – 12/01/17 -> 03/05/17 NS3/NS5a + Generic Sof
SVR7 – 22/06/17 UND
SRV12 – 27/07/17 UND
SVR24 – 26/10/17 UND
