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I am not sure if this is the right place to post the following set of information:
Reading this article (RO language: http://www.radiomures.ro/stiri/peste-20-de-pacienti-cu-hepatita-c-vindecati-la-tg-mures.html ) one can see that in a certain place from Romania, 21 HCV patients were treated with the interferon free therapy and the bill to be paid by the healthcare system is slightly more than 1.150.000 US dollars. The news was also pointing that this is an extraordinary result!
With the same amount of money, more than 1.000 people could have been treated with generic medication for HCV. How extraordinary would that have been?
Going further, for treating 1000 patients with branded drugs, the RO government should pay more than 50 million $.
Now, looking at the FDA process to approve the usage of generic drugs (http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/NewsEvents/ucm508150.htm ) it is obvious that this will cost some money, yet the key question would be: would this approval process cost more than 50 million $ for HCV generic drugs? If not, the government could save a lot of money by considering the approval process for HCV generic drugs ….I am aware that politics is puzzling, yet in the context from above it is about saving a lot of money (apart from saving a lot of lives which is priceless).
By the way, Gilead sits on more than 24bn$ ( as they say on their press release related to the financial results for Q2/2016 “….As of June 30, 2016, Gilead had $24.6 billion of cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities….”
which means a lot of cash and equivalents. This does not sound good at all…. Have a look here: http://www.investopedia.com/articles/fundamental/03/062503.asp:
“Bad Reasons for Extra Cash
All the same, textbook guidelines should not be ignored. High levels of cash on the balance sheet can frequently signal danger ahead. If cash is more or less a permanent feature of the company’s balance sheet , investors need to ask why the money is not being put to use. Cash could be there because management has run out of investment opportunities or is too short sighted and doesn’t know what to do with the cash.Sitting on cash can be an expensive luxury because it has an opportunity cost, which amounts to the difference between the interest earned on holding cash and price paid for having the cash as measured by the company’s cost of capital. If a company, say, can get 20% return on equity investing in a new project or by expanding the business, it is a costly mistake to keep the cash in the bank. If the project’s return is less than the company’s cost of capital, the cash should be returned to shareholders.
Don’t be fooled by the popular explanation that extra cash gives managers more flexibility and speed to make acquisitions when they see fit. Companies that hold excess cash carry agency costs whereby they are tempted to pursue “empire building”. Top managers can fritter away cash on wasteful acquisitions and bad projects in a bid to boost their personal power and prestige. With this mind, be wary of balance sheet items like “strategic reserves” and “restructuring reserves”. They are often just excuses for hoarding cash.
Even worse, a cash-rich company runs the risk of being careless. The company may fall prey to sloppy habits, including inadequate control of spending and an unwillingness continually to prune growing expenses. Large cash holdings also remove some of managers’ pressure to perform.”
Well, these were just some simple thoughts….
Cheers,
RHF
Hi Fitz,
It looks like you managed to master the AK-47 HCV DAA gun and to keep the Chlorcyclizine as the last backup bullet for the HCV bastards
.Again, congratulations for reaching UND.
P.S. I hope I am not wrong when I say that AK47 is an efficient gun – I only know it from some shooter PC games that I’ve seen when some kids were playing. :d…..
Cheers,
RHF
Hi FHN,
This is a great news, congratulations!
The rest of the journey seems much easier now.
In my case, the ups and downs occurred in the first 3 weeks (some headaches, a little bit of insomnia), but afterwards it was quite a smooth journey.So enjoy the rest of the journey and may it be without any sx
Cheers
RHF
Hi Murr,
Thank you for your wishes. On my turn I wish you an easy journey through the treatment and to reach the happy finish lines SVR12 and SVR24
.I am now almost 4 weeks after EOT and I am physically OK. The anxiety of waiting another 8 weeks till the next VL blood analysis is somehow difficult to handle, so I keep reminding me that other people reported similar things. My level of enthusiasm is quite low these days, so I was thinking to apply a placebo strategy : to take some Calcium pills, place it in some appricot jam to get the brown color like the generic drugs that I took during the treatment and then to start taking 1pill/day at 10:00pm
Just kidding, despite the fact my sense of humour is in vacation these days and away from me.Cheers,
RHF
Hi Fitz,
CONGRATULATIONS !!
Cheers,
RHF
Hi Sven,
to me (as I mentioned in another thread) some worries are gone and some new came in
and I try to not lose my optimism. Couple of tips that might help you:
– dr. Freeman announced in April 2016 a success rate (SVR12) of ~95% in a group of 448 people. So you have quite a good argument to think positive;
– relapse is sad and is part of this HCV reality. Even though I do not wish to hear about relapse, I am very thankful to those who decided to post such news. It mobilizes me to stay alert and … prepares me to continue the fight if necesary.
– I would have questioned the transparence of fixhepc.com in case there would have been no news about relapse. And now as long as the there exist this transparency about relapse, it does help me to keep my sense of reality.
– there are several statements on this forum of people who reached SVR12 and who mentioned that waiting to reach the “confirmation time” for SVR12 was not so easy, having fears/anxiety, etc. So it happened to others too and it helps to know this and to talk about it.Last but not least, I think it would have been kind of boring to just get rid of the “HCV buddy” after having had it so many years …. So a little bit of worries might be indicated, just like alcohol (have a look on a thread on the forum about alcohol).
You are now in the middle of the game and you have only one thing to do: CONTINUE
, do not let the fears or worries turn you down.
Thinking positive helps also your liver fight betterCheers,
RHF
Hi Jeff,
I was getting such opinions from medical staff NOT being specialized in liver diseases.
However, they looked at me like I was a poor and naive person, so any explanation would have been too much for my non-educated brain in medical sciences….. But, in my naivity I continue to hope that the generics killed already the HCV bastards.P.s. please let’s not start a debate about such questionable remarks / advices originating from certain medical staff…. I am pretty sure many of us would have so much to tell
