are you kidding? tents?
soon you’ll probably need to reserve your most luxurious hotels to accommodate the US med tourists paid by their insurer, according to research done in the US :

http://www.ispor.org/research_pdfs/49/pdffiles/PIH42.pdf

WOULD YOU LIKE AN ALL-INCLUSIVE LUXURY HOLIDAY WITH FIRST CLASS FLIGHTS TO EGYPT WITH YOUR SOVALDI PRESCRIPTION – innovative cost-saving solution for US tax payers.

INTRODUCTION
Gilead implemented a tiered global pricing strategy for SOVALDI (sofosbuvir where the price reflects a country’s ability to pay; a 12- week treatment course in the US costs $84,000 versus $840 in India, Egypt and Brazil.
SOVALDI has generated some strong payer outcry as its price combined with the large patient population (Hepatitis C) results in a substantial budget impact. 


METHODS
This research aimed to evaluate how it could be money-saving for US insurers to reimburse patients for luxury holidays to Egypt where SOVALDI is available at a 99% discount.
On the 26th November 2014, prices were sourced for the Fairmont Cairo 5-star hotel alongside first-class flights on Emirates airline for trips at the following weekend (Friday 28th to Sunday 30th November) reflecting the potential need for prompt commencement of treatment following diagnosis.

RESULTS
The most expensive suite at the Fairmont Cairo was the 233m2 “Diplomatic Suite King,” overlooking the Nile at $10,000 a night for 2 people.
First-class flights for 2 persons leaving on the 28th November and returning on the 30th would cost $42,754.

Therefore, US insurers could afford to send hepatitis C patients along with a friend/partner on a luxury weekend break to the most expensive suite in a 5-star hotel in Cairo to collect their SOVALDI prescription for a total of $63,594.
This means that insurers could give the patient an additional $10,000 in spending money and still make cost-savings exceeding $10,000, as compared to having SOVALDI dispensed in the US.

CONCLUSIONS
The availability of high-cost therapeutics in other countries at a fraction of the price that it costs in the US, offers opportunities for US payers to save costs whilst simultaneously offering quality-of-life improving vacations for patients.

excellent news!
Many Thanks Dr Freeman,
I hope I’ll be able to do the R2 trial with you,

hi,
Hope everyone is feeling well today,
I read this last night & thought it was relevant to this discussion, it’s about big pharma, pricing, global access to HCV meds by Els Torreele, the Director of Access to Medicines, Public Health Program, Open Society Foundations.

Really worth reading & exploring the whole blog, a lot of good links in the body of that article, also If you would like to contribute a guest post on that blog, there is a contact details there.

from the blog:
“The unaffordability of medicines is no longer just a problem for poor people in developing countries—it is a global public health emergency. Excessive prices stand between North American and European patients and life-saving treatments. Strained health budgets lead states and insurers to delay or ration expensive medicines and increase out-of-pocket expenses. To get the drugs they need, patients must suffer serious “financial toxicity,” as cancer doctor Leonard Saltz poignantly puts it, or forego treatment altogether.
”

this is part 1:
http://blogs.plos.org/yoursay/2015/10/13/talking-about-drug-prices-access-to-medicines/

part 2 is written by a Jessica Wapner, a freelance US science writer, activist, blogger, most enjoyable reading.
Here she explains how the big pharma works out their drug pricing strategy, like how do you get from $101 – the real cost of tx with Sofo to $50000 or more depending in which country you happened to live :

http://blogs.plos.org/yoursay/2015/10/15/talking-about-drug-prices-access-to-medicines-this-blog-post-will-cost-you/

yes,

The ‘fixhepc franchise’. Could be a money-spinner Doc.

why not? I believe Facebook profit is around $250 Billions ! ? hmy:
How do they do that??? I mean they don’t sell anything on the Book Face ??

Just imagine what FixHepC Global can do with the money, like employ a few hundreds Doctors, Pharmaceutical Chemists & staff to run surgeries, shipping & offices worldwide, etc. that would be fun

Hi Emilio,
Just to say I’m grateful for this discussion forum in any form or shape, “dog’s breakfast or cat’s dinner”
There are some invaluable informations here but I can see the forum is growing really fast so maybe a small re organisation is a good idea.
This place have now become a global hub & not just for Australian members.

What I think could be helpful, keeping in mind this is now Global, is to have some pinned info about the Global Access of Generics Suppliers, much along the lines of Alsdad’s forum, you have seen it.
I hope he does not mind me putting the link to his page here, this is very well organised:

http://killthedragon.freeforums.net/

That part about the Access to Generic Meds, where & when & how is very important as this is the main reason why we’re all here in the first place.
There should be a space to ask questions under each Generic Supplier & maybe this is where the representatives of those Suppliers can come & introduce themselves, offer help, & we can ask questions in return, etc. otherwise they are all lost somewhere in the past threads & the questions are being kept repeated by many new members.

In that Generic Suppliers board other things can be added such as what Tests have been done for any of those meds & where, maybe pin the results of those tests there as well as they keep coming in.

Assuming the interest in generic meds tx will grow at such a fast pace as it has done here so far & I recon it will, maybe it’s a good idea to think along the lines of developing the brand-name of FixHepC across the world ? into a global website brand ? – like: FixHepC UK, FixHepC USA, FixHepC Canada, FixHepC Russia, etc.

hi Max,

Generic Sovaldi was available in Egypt already for a while, many Russian & Eastern Europeans do buy their Sovaldi’s there , apparently available in Egyptian’s pharmacy shops with script.
Now it looks they are going to produce their own version of Harvoni & Daclatasvir, excellent news! the more the better!

The product names for Sovaldi in Egypt that I came across :

MPI Viropack – firm Marcyrl,
Grateziano – firm European Egyptian Pharmaceutical Industries (Pharco),
Gratisovir – firm Pharco Pharmaceutical,
Sofolanork – firm Biomed,
Sofocivir – firm ZetaPharm.

I only just started to look into that, so not sure if they are as effective as other generic Sof from other firms & if anyone tested them independently. Maybe someone here has experienced them or know of someone who takes them?

For Europeans Egypt is much closer to fly to as compared to going to India or Bangladesh or Australia, although with all the fightings in the Arab’s countries it is probably not very safe to do so at the moment.

Very good news!