Re:Ernie G.’s comment-
Yes, Gleevec is prohibitively expensive. When we first heard about the prescription, I just groaned. The Dr. quoted 5k per month! My parents are working-class folk with pretty good but not top-of-the-line private insurance. They crossed their fingers and took the script to the insurer.
In only one week, the insurance company agreed to cover the Gleevec, charging my Dad only $100 per month. We were stunned. They even have a special delivery program that ensures Dad never has to wait for more than a day for a new month’s supply. He just recently had to reapply for continued coverage of the Gleevec, and we all held our breath- but the company came through again, with the same price and service.
Medicare could never do this.
I’m worried for people who suffer from “orphan diseases” like rare cancers and so on. Who will develop the breaththrough drugs to save them? How will they get them?
PH+CML is so rare- only 21,000 cases in the US- that it is unlikely Gleevec will ever come down in price, unless it finds broader application.
This is truly a case of the private sector outdoing the government.
Side note: nobody knows what causes PH+CML. There’s a growing understanding of how it works in the body but no real idea how one acquires it. My father led a healthy, active, teetotalling life and had no cancer in his family tree. Everyone is mystified as to how this happened.
Ernie G- are you a doctor? Do you have any idea how ones acquires this disease?
It’s not supposed to be passed from generation to generation, so what on earth triggers it?