3 ms·
Please tell me how charging $50,000/yr for 30 year old dimethyl fumarate (BG-12/tecfidera) for the treatment of multiple sclerosis is due to innovation. It sho
by snarfy 14y ago
Please tell me how charging $50,000/yr for 30 year old dimethyl fumarate (BG-12/tecfidera) for the treatment of multiple sclerosis is due to innovation. It shouldn't cost more than aspirin. The only reason they are charging that much is because that's how much all other MS medications cost.
Oligopoly, it's like a monopoly, only legal.
- refurb 14y agoBecause someone has to pay for the phase 3 clinical trials to actually prove that it's safe and that it works? That doesn't come cheap. If Biogen charged only the price of aspirin, they would never recoup their R&D costs, let alone make a profit.
- visarga 14y agoThen maybe we should find a way to make trials cheaper. Why does it cost one billion dollars to bring a new drug to market? That could drastically limit the innovation.
- refurb 14y agoYou need to work with the FDA on that one, they are the ones that set the trial requirements. It all comes down to risk-reward. Even though the FDA has very rigorous efficacy and safety standards, drugs still get through that kill people. If you want to make drug approvals cheaper, then you have to be willing to put up with a higher risk of drugs getting through that shouldn't have.