Xtandi, developed with taxpayer funds, costs $129K/year

I received a letter from someone investigating the Xtandi rip-off in Washington. Xtandi was my oncologists first choice but my insurance turned it down because of cost and instead I'm using Zytiga, which is working well..The investigator pointed out that Xtandi had been developed with public funding and therefore should be available in generic form from competing companies..He picked up my story from another board and PMed me asking the details of why my insurance rejected Xtandi..

The fact is, very few people actually pay the list price for these super-expensive drugs..Insurance companies negotiate hefty discounts and the drug companies themselves will cover the co-pays if need be to get the product to the patient..The drug companies are NEVER required to reveal their actual production costs on any of these drugs so it's impossible to determine what their profit margin is...

www.fiercepharma.com/story/astellas-cancer-med-xtandi-draws-fire-us-lawmakers-demand-pricing-hearing/2016-03-29

Post Edited (Fairwind) : 3/29/2016 7:45:55 PM (GMT-6)

I have Medicare Advantage administered by United Healthcare. They refused the Xtandi script and insisted my Oncologist use Zytiga first..Reason given: Price.

I think Congress will soon change the Medicare law to allow them to negotiate drug prices..That clause was just a big fat kiss to the drug companies and they have been taking unfair advantage of it...

Very suspicious posts from you Enzalutamid

His posts were deleted by Admin - for selling or pushing a product -

Post Edited (Bobby Mac) : 10/1/2016 12:36:31 PM (GMT-6)

In Dollar terms, you are paying about $4000 a year for Xtandi...That's a fraction of what U.S. cancer patients are asked to pay....

The drug companies negotiate back-stage deals with dozens of countries and they finally work out an agreed on price to be charged in that country...We in the U.S. get to pay the most. It's the biggest welfare program in history where millionaire and billionaire drug company executives tap directly into the U.S. Treasury..

Drug costs are out of sight and something needs to be done!

Here are some parts of a Palm Beach Post article published today-

"It’s not just the prick of the EpiPen. A host of price hikes for prescription drugs is getting under consumers’ skin.
New polling shows 77 percent find drug prices “unreasonable,” up from 72 percent a year ago — and majorities say it’s time for policy changes."



“This is unbelievable,” Staff said. “I was horrified that drug companies could actually get away with this.” She was astounded to learn through a story in The Palm Beach Post that the drug’s manufacturer paid other companies to delay making a cheaper version.

"Florida and other states reached a $125 million settlement with the makers of the wakefulness drug Provigil in the past 60 days. Unfortunately, that won’t turn back the clock to redo years without a drug that she said worked best to “get me through the day.”

A growing number of consumers say they are fed up. One national poll shows large majorities, regardless of party allegiance, support policy changes to keep the cost of prescription drugs.

A poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation found 86 percent of Americans support making drug companies release more information on how they set prices, 82 percent want to let the U.S. government negotiate for lower Medicare drug prices, and 78 percent want to limit charges for high-cost drugs for illnesses such as hepatitis and cancer."

We all need to email/call our congressmen to complain about the cost of drugs - just complaining amongst ourselves gets nothing accomplished.

Bobby Mac

Fairwind said...
Medicare and Medicaid, two government programs that pay for the majority of these drugs should be REQUIRED to negotiate with drug companies on the basis of PRICE..They should take into account what it cost the drug companies to develop the the drug and how much it costs to actually manufacture it...The way we allow a single company to patent a life saving drug for 20 years, we may need to take a look at that too. It's just not in the public interest to give monopoly pricing power to a single company..If price gouging is determined, the government should "break the patent" and allow at least two other companies to manufacture and sell the drug in question..Just the threat of losing their patent protection would keep the drug companies honest....At least more honest than they are now......

So, how do you suppose it became law that MC could not negotiate drug prices? Just how in the world would our government, always trying to cut back on what MC will pay for, jump up and make such a rule that would cost them megabucks?