Imagine $6,000,000 a year for medication

[emm74]

Originally Posted by newtovenice

Right.

And my statement was about the fact that the industry continues to produce me-too drugs. A slight variation on something that already exists. For the only sake of profitability.

Which means YOUR rare disease? Not profitable. They'll never make a drug. They'll never bother with it, no money in it.

You are actually AGREEING with me. Shocking, I know.

This is the field I work in - I work for an academic medical center that conducts clinical trials as part of our research mission. And you are incorrect. Yes, sometimes a new drug is a tweak of an existing drug or more often, it's a combination drug with a new or different ingredient. But I can assure you that while yes, pharma companies want to make money, the way they make money is by finding a drug that works better and is more effective, not just because it's newer. We treat very sick people, some of them are literally near death who sometimes get markedly better on an experimental medicine that didn't exist before, because if it had, our docs would have tried it.

And yes, of course drug companies make drugs for rare diseases - that's the entire premise of this thread after all.

[newtovenice]

Originally Posted by emm74

This is the field I work in - I work for an academic medical center that conducts clinical trials as part of our research mission. And you are incorrect. Yes, sometimes a new drug is a tweak of an existing drug or more often, it's a combination drug with a new or different ingredient. But I can assure you that while yes, pharma companies want to make money, the way they make money is by finding a drug that works better and is more effective, not just because it's newer. We treat very sick people, some of them are literally near death who sometimes get markedly better on an experimental medicine that didn't exist before, because if it had, our docs would have tried it.

And yes, of course drug companies make drugs for rare diseases - that's the entire premise of this thread after all.

Right now, how many pharma companies are vying for that cure for a rare condition that very few have vs creating another profitable me-too drug to dump on the masses?

[bluedevilz]

Originally Posted by newtovenice

Right now, how many pharma companies are vying for that cure for a rare condition that very few have vs creating another profitable me-too drug to dump on the masses?

Again, as has already been pointed out to you, go back and READ the OP and the link that this whole thread is based on....

It is in fact an article about Pharma companies and treatment costs for RARE DISEASES

[Oldhag1]

Still, the toll on the union’s health plan is astonishing: At one point in 2018, for every hour that one of the union’s 16,000 members worked, 35 cents of his or her pay went to Alexion to cover the Pattersons’ prescriptions.

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Because Strensiq needs to be taken indefinitely by patients who need it, Ms. Jasperson estimated that the Pattersons’ total drug coverage could cost the union $60 million.

I’m sorry, it is awful she and her children have this, but this expensive of medication is not sustainable. 16,000 people are paying $728 a year just to pay this woman’s medical bills.

This is also why medical costs in the US are so high. We fund the world’s medical research.