Hello, everyone, and nice to see you again. We apologize for the delay this morning, but we were having technical difficulties. To cope, we are having downing several cups of stimulation. Now, though, the time has come to tackle those meetings and deadlines. Meanwhile, here are some tidbits, including news from the ASCO meeting. Hope your day goes well and stay in touch...
A Contraceptive Pill For Men With No Side Effects? (The Daily Mail)
Merck And Ariad Drug Delays Sarcoma In Trial (Reuters)
UK Pharma Industry In Crisis (Press TV)
Roche Says Avastin And Chemo Cut Ovarian Cancer Growth (Bloomberg News)
Bristol Melanoma Drug And Chemo Extended Life In Study (Reuters)
Pfizer Divestiture May Hurt Its Credit Rating (Bloomberg News)
Chinese Drugmaker Cited For Significant Pollution (East Day)
Lilly Drug Kept Lung Cancer At Bay In Study (Reuters)
Pfizer Lung Cancer Drug May Double Survival (Associated Press)
EU Governments Should Publish Prices Paid For Drugs (Pharma Times)
EDITOR’S NOTE: Please check this space for updates throughout the morning.
Coffee pix thx to chichcacha flickr creative commons
3 Comments
The link for the Pfizer lung cancer drug story is broken.
This is one reason why Alimta and other cancer drugs are so expensive. Alimta is given as a three hour infusion every 21 days for six cycles. Thus the total treatment goes for 105 days. This new Lilly study shows that Alimta only gives you another 35 days, or about 1.5 more cycles. At $10,000/cycle for the current price, Lilly only stands to make about $15,000.00 additional per patient, not a huge ROI for an sNDA for an oncology drug.
Therefore, in short, if Alimta is approved for the new indication, or is at least in a position to capitalize on it promotionally, look for the Colonel to jack the price up by 4-5-fold. That will give an additional ROI of about $40-50,000 for an extra 35 days of life. You or your insurance company will then have to pay an additional $1000-1500/day as you lay dying in a hospice and your family is financially bled to death.
It's your choice.
To extend the above argument, a recent study of cancer registries from Washington state, as reported on showed that families of lung cancer patients on chemotherapy are 27 times more likely to file for personal bankruptcy than the general population.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/43294442