Lately, Pharmaceuticals are also feeling the pinch. New drug launch were hard to come by, and the ones which did see the light of day had plenty of back-end investment behind it. Rarely are these "blockbusters", and oftentimes the niche drugs were left behind.
Last night, the MSH Members were invited to attend a dinner launch of a new monocloncal antibody, Brentuximab. Touted to the the next best thing as far as Hodgkin's Lymphoma is concerned, the company behind it, Takeda were putting plenty of effort for the launch. A foreign speaker was invited to give her insight on the new drug, and we were treated to a sumptuous dinner.
There was some fanfare at the launch as well, but everybody were a bit cagey when we talked about the costing. It would be a bomb and beyond most of the average patient could afford. With the tightening of the budget and the insurance company putting more scrutiny on the patient claims, the cost would be a barrier for this - otherwise sound therapeutic agent - to penetrate the scene. The cost is even beyond your typical SJMC patient.
How do we solve this issue? A patient support or access program would be needed, tapping into the generosity of the Pharmaceutical industry so that our patients could benefit from such an advancement. It also meant that those recieving the drug had to be pre-selected, and this pre-selection process may not be clear cut.
Therefore, events such as these including sharing of the experience of those lucky enough to have been able to use the drug is vital. And this is going to be the pattern in the future. Expensive, but effective drug catering for the niche market. Unfortunately this would be typical in my field. For without the investments of the "Big Pharma" we would not be able to enjoy some downstream benefit. I was sure that if the company were to open up an access program, the cost must be recouped from their operation somewhere else - either a different arm of their business or their operations abroad in developed market.
