Public Address | Cafe | Hard News: Fifty thousand preventable deaths

Russell Brown

Wed, 10 Feb 2016 17:05:32 +1300

Anyone who has a direct interest in this topic, either on their own behalf or for someone else, may wish to read the below.

I got this advice from a sympathetic and knowledgeable GP after asking on an individual’s behalf. It’s a really clear explanation of the state of play.…

Russell Brown

Sun, 07 Feb 2016 19:28:39 +1300

I hope that with competing products becoming available, the suppliers will negotiate a bit more. Gilead has licensed generic manufacture of the active ingredient of Solvaldi (sofosbuvir) in India for sale to developing countries, which suggests they may be willing to settle for charging what people will actually pay.

The…

Russell Brown

Sun, 07 Feb 2016 19:27:38 +1300

The cost of new livers (if so many were available, which they are not) or medical care until the end of their lives for hep C sufferers surely must exceed $80-100,000.

Oh, it does. It's radically more expensive to fund liver transplants or treat liver cancer than to provide these…

Hebe

Sun, 07 Feb 2016 19:15:05 +1300

The cost of new livers (if so many were available, which they are not) or medical care until the end of their lives for hep C sufferers surely must exceed $80-100,000.

Add to that the (loathsome concept) economic benefit of having those people alive and healthy, and the cost seems…

Thomas Lumley

Sun, 07 Feb 2016 18:23:11 +1300

There's two reasons the value of a statistical life doesn't enter directly into Pharmac's calculations. The first is that VSL is really for immediate life/death decisions like road deaths — it doesn't allow for quality of life or for shortened lifespan. More importantly, though, Pharmac doesn't have the option to…

Lilith __

Sun, 07 Feb 2016 17:26:25 +1300

Fifty thousand people!

Thanks for writing this Russell. What a terrible situation for so many people.

Bart Janssen

Fri, 11 Sept 2015 17:14:16 +1200

it does rather take some of my sympathy away for their expensive research requirements

I know some of that stuff goes on. And I'm not saying I believe big pharma is ideal way to create drugs, it is certainly corrupted to varying degrees by arseholes in suits.

But whichever way…

Stephen R

Fri, 11 Sept 2015 17:08:43 +1200

Bart, I read a book about 15 years ago which claimed that about 50% of Pharma research budget went on trying to replicate a current patented drug with just enough difference to not be covered by the patent but still be effective.

The two goals involved seemed to be replicating…

Bart Janssen

Fri, 11 Sept 2015 16:04:26 +1200

I don’t envy Pharmac – every dollar committed here is one they don’t have to put elsewhere.

Agreed. I would not be able to sit on that panel and make those choices.

But we can help. If Pharmac had more money the job would be less hard, we can talk…

Bart Janssen

Fri, 11 Sept 2015 16:02:07 +1200

It's easy to write off the big pharmas as fleecing people for their own gain and there is certainly a profit motive. In no small part dictated by the legal responsibilities to the shareholders. But that said the executives of those big pharmas live quite well.

But it really does…

Lucy Telfar Barnard

Fri, 11 Sept 2015 14:13:57 +1200

Sorry micheall michael, but you are not “proof that Hep C can be cured with cannabis oil”. The effectiveness of any medication cannot be proven through the experience of a single individual. I have no opinion on whether cannabis oil is or is not an effective treatment for Hepatitis C…

micheall micheal

Thu, 10 Sept 2015 17:38:44 +1200

TOTAL CURE FOR HEPATITIS WITH CANNABIS OIL
I’m a living proof that Hep C can be cured with Cannabis oil.In 1998 while donating blood I found out I had Hep C.I was told there was no cure back then. I was told to quit drinking alcohol ASAP or would kill…

tatjna

Thu, 10 Sept 2015 12:46:33 +1200

In 2009, BERL put the value of one year of life at $106,600 when calculating the cost to the country of premature death due to alcohol and other drug use: http://www.justice.govt.nz/justice-sector/drivers-of-crime/documents/BERL_-July_2009-_Costs_of_Harmful_Alcohol_and_Other_Drug_Use-1.pdf

James Ting-Edwards

Wed, 09 Sept 2015 14:31:25 +1200

Oh, and the value was established at $2 million in 1991 :-)

James Ting-Edwards

Wed, 09 Sept 2015 14:29:56 +1200

The value of a statistical life is an attempt at "how much do we pay to prevent one death?".

An important tool in the kit when finite resources are being dished out. There is weirdness though, when [[http://nzier.org.nz/publication/fix-flawed-values-of-statistical-life-and-life-years-to-get-better-policy-outcomes|people might be willing to spend more to prevent road deaths than house…

Martin Brown

Mon, 07 Sept 2015 19:09:35 +1200

There is a GDP value the Govt attaches to a productive human life...well, there used to be. ACC once upon a time used to apply it to the cost of a death by accident, to justify their advertising spend. It's certainly more than 100K.

Sofie Bribiesca

Mon, 07 Sept 2015 18:22:35 +1200

Bear in mind its easy to stop the programme if it doesn't work for whatever reason but I know of quite a few who have died waiting for new livers or just died . I was hesitant to start at first but as the efficacy rate increased I changed my…

Russell Brown

Mon, 07 Sept 2015 18:00:43 +1200

So if the 12 month programme is all that someone can access now ,I'd say give it a go.it is worth a try.

People are assessed on mental health grounds before treatment is recommended, and the efficacy rate (70% at best, less with some genotypes) is a factor too. Basically,…

Sofie Bribiesca

Mon, 07 Sept 2015 16:40:14 +1200

Reading some of the stories linked to above, I'll just add that the "stigma" comes with virus. I still found it my duty to inform any person I was involved with as to the implications of certain contact with me. There were some times that honesty was crucial. I managed…

Russell Brown

Mon, 07 Sept 2015 16:08:03 +1200

Well, if you wait for patents to expire the drugs will certainly get cheaper. But how many Hep C sufferers will die in the meantime, or suffer through a course of interferon?

Some of the most gravely ill are being treated on Gilead's compassionate programme, but yeah. The fact that…

Nick Russell

Mon, 07 Sept 2015 15:48:00 +1200

Well, if you wait for patents to expire the drugs will certainly get cheaper. But how many Hep C sufferers will die in the meantime, or suffer through a course of interferon?

Russell Brown

Mon, 07 Sept 2015 15:43:27 +1200

How can the new treatments for Hep C be "cheap and easy to administer" if they cost $80 to $100k per patient

The administration is cheap and easy (one tablet a day, could even be done in the community) – the drugs themselves are really, really expensive. But hopefully the…

Nick Russell

Mon, 07 Sept 2015 15:37:47 +1200

How can the new treatments for Hep C be "cheap and easy to administer" if they cost $80 to $100k per patient? If we have 50,000 people infected, it would cost billions to treat them all at that rate.

Public Address

Mon, 07 Sept 2015 15:37:47 +1200

Discussion from blog post.