It’s also completely untrue. In reality the high cost is not because of greed but because of high manufacturing cost and the necessity for long hospital follow-up. Novartis is also not the only manufacturer providing CAR-T drugs at a high price. And lastly, they offer alternative payment programmes to make the therapy more affordable. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAR_T_cell#Economics
> high manufacturing cost and the necessity for long hospital follow-up
The lead researcher behind the treatment claims the treatment cost under $20k to administer though, and I've never heard of mass production/adoption causing the cost of a product to go up in price (edit: excepting certain luxury goods that go up because they're a status symbol or something), certainly not >20x more... I know nothing about the medical field so I'm open to having my mind changed but that completely defies intuition. After seeing $450 bags of saline on a medical bill I had last year I'm much more inclined to believe they're just price gouging.
> Novartis is also not the only manufacturer providing CAR-T drugs at a high price.
I guess more than one company can do something despicable?
> offer alternative payment programmes
The "alternative payment programme" mentioned is "requiring payment only if the CAR T therapy induces a complete remission by a certain time point after treatment." I'd much rather pay $20k whether it succeeds or fails than $475k if it succeeds and $0 if it fails, if it fails I'm probably dead and don't care very much...
klmr|2 years ago
ldhough|2 years ago
The lead researcher behind the treatment claims the treatment cost under $20k to administer though, and I've never heard of mass production/adoption causing the cost of a product to go up in price (edit: excepting certain luxury goods that go up because they're a status symbol or something), certainly not >20x more... I know nothing about the medical field so I'm open to having my mind changed but that completely defies intuition. After seeing $450 bags of saline on a medical bill I had last year I'm much more inclined to believe they're just price gouging.
> Novartis is also not the only manufacturer providing CAR-T drugs at a high price.
I guess more than one company can do something despicable?
> offer alternative payment programmes
The "alternative payment programme" mentioned is "requiring payment only if the CAR T therapy induces a complete remission by a certain time point after treatment." I'd much rather pay $20k whether it succeeds or fails than $475k if it succeeds and $0 if it fails, if it fails I'm probably dead and don't care very much...
serguzest|2 years ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQfFCC6i5_o&t=2792s
I am sure pharma industry has similar excuses for why Epipen 10x expensive in America compared to other parts of the world.