2 ms·

Under “right-to-try” law, therapy may go for $300K–with no proof it will work

10 points by dv_dt 8y ago

pitaj 8y ago
Seems like patients willing to spend $300k would probably be either willing to try anything to save themselves or convinced of the efficacy of the drug they're purchasing. I see no reason to prevent patients willing to spend money to try something from doing so.
- Latty 8y ago
  You don't see the harm in any con man being able to put together a "therapy" that has no chance of working and charge terminally ill people a ton of money, wasting what little time they have, and taking their money from them? I think the core idea of allowing people to try experimental treatments when they are terminally ill is a good one - but without protection, it's clearly ripe for abuse. Allowing it without any precautions in place is asking for the most vulnerable people to get ripped off in tragic ways. The attitude of "any chance is better than no chance" has a ring of truth to it, but it also ignores the fact that people can pass off "no chance" as "any chance" very easily. The fact that anyone in that situation is very unlikely to be a rational actor means that they are incredibly vulnerable to cons - they are in a situation with an extreme power imbalance.
- olliej 8y ago
  So you’re saying that exploiting desperate people is perfectly reasonable?
olliej 8y ago
This is of course exactly what everyone with half a clue said would happen. I remember multiple groups claiming the law limited the ability to make exploitative profits from victims, yet here we have a 300k treatment. It does not cost 300k to create the medication, we know this because the costs for the trials would be even larger than they already are. The simple fact is saying “limit profit” ignores the immense power of a corporation to invent expenses (how much does IP cost?). The reality is that this was only ever going to be used to exploit people. The data is not useful for a trial, and because it’s not in a trial then failures don’t get reported as part of the trial. Suddenly you can make a profit without ever proving it does anything at all.

10 points by dv_dt 8y ago

Seems like patients willing to spend $300k would probably be either willing to try anything to save themselves or convinced of the efficacy of the drug they're purchasing. I see no reason to prevent patients willing to spend money to try something from doing so.

Latty 8y ago
You don't see the harm in any con man being able to put together a "therapy" that has no chance of working and charge terminally ill people a ton of money, wasting what little time they have, and taking their money from them? I think the core idea of allowing people to try experimental treatments when they are terminally ill is a good one - but without protection, it's clearly ripe for abuse. Allowing it without any precautions in place is asking for the most vulnerable people to get ripped off in tragic ways. The attitude of "any chance is better than no chance" has a ring of truth to it, but it also ignores the fact that people can pass off "no chance" as "any chance" very easily. The fact that anyone in that situation is very unlikely to be a rational actor means that they are incredibly vulnerable to cons - they are in a situation with an extreme power imbalance.
olliej 8y ago
So you’re saying that exploiting desperate people is perfectly reasonable?

olliej 8y ago

This is of course exactly what everyone with half a clue said would happen. I remember multiple groups claiming the law limited the ability to make exploitative profits from victims, yet here we have a 300k treatment. It does not cost 300k to create the medication, we know this because the costs for the trials would be even larger than they already are. The simple fact is saying “limit profit” ignores the immense power of a corporation to invent expenses (how much does IP cost?). The reality is that this was only ever going to be used to exploit people. The data is not useful for a trial, and because it’s not in a trial then failures don’t get reported as part of the trial. Suddenly you can make a profit without ever proving it does anything at all.