Big Pharma again

In today's New York Times:

www.nytimes.com/2015/10/05/business/valeants-drug-price-strategy-enriches-it-but-infuriates-patients-and-lawmakers.html?_r=0

Mr. Mannes has been taking the same drug, Cuprimine, for 55 years to treat Wilson disease, an inherited disorder that can cause severe liver and nerve damage. This summer, Valeant more than quadrupled its price overnight.

Medicare will now have to cover about $35,000 for the 120 capsules he takes each month, and he will have to pay about $1,800 a month out of pocket, compared with about $366 he paid in May.

“My husband will die without the medicine,” said his wife, Susan, who is now working a second part-time job to help pay for health care. “We just can’t manage another two, three thousand dollars a month for pills.”

Post Edited (IamCurious) : 10/5/2015 11:41:44 AM (GMT-6)

Something has got to change. I get so upset by things like this and how insurance companies are dictating what medications doctors can prescribe. It is beyond ridiculous.

I hate the term "Big Pharma" because it's commonly used to imply that all drug companies are 100% bad, which is not the case. Just like everything else, there are good companies and there are bad companies and even the worst company is not 100% bad. Somehow we need to do a better job of reigning in unethical practices such as this example.

I a not 100% happy with generics.
Had a prostatitis problem a few year back.
All the generics caused side effects, so I went to real Flomax, much much better.
Of course I had to pay for the Flomax myself, insurance would not cover.
Tried 3 different generic manufactures.
The generics are checked for supposed bio equivalence, based on analysis, as far as concentration
of the active is concerned, this is done on analytical equipment.
Concentrations may vary within a range, impurities that create side effects, who knows.
Old Mike