america is so fucking based man
in any proper country that company at least gets forced to pay by the government then ordered to shut down forever due to wanton cruelty. all the employees get generous severance except whoever made that call. depending upon your view of carceral punishment there are a few ways to go with that guy.
In a statement, Chief Executive Officer Mike Poore told KCTV5:
“Global pharmaceutical companies are putting profitability over affordability, making it impossible for employers like our hospital system to bear the financial burden of these exorbitant drug prices.
In January 2024, Mosaic’s Health Care Trustees made the gut-wrenching decision not to cover expensive gene therapy used to treat ultra-rare diseases. Covering these treatments could cripple the financial viability of our health system, directly impacting our more than 4,000 employees and the approximately 270,000 people who rely on the health care we provide in small communities across four states.
We are working hard to help find alternative solutions and financial resources to help in this case. Bottom line: Families should not have to focus on the astronomical costs imposed by drug companies, but instead should be able to focus on the care of their children in a medical crisis.”
wow it’s almost like it’s a shitty fucking system and you’re very much a part of it.
from his linkedin:
“Mike is one of the finest men with whom I have ever worked. He relates well to and inspires his employees. He demands high quality while keeping his eye firmly on the bottom line. I would follow him anywhere!”
Maybe we shouldn’t make healthcare decisions while keeping our eyes on the bottom line, wow
Novartis is another shit-stain-of-humanity drug company. Fuck Novartis.
The fuck are you smoking?
Important facts for people that didn’t bother to read the article: it’s $2.1m each, so total is $4.2m. The coverage of the drug was cut on a schedule that was determined in January. The diagnosis of the disease was 5 days after the cut.
The cost isn’t an issue in my mind, but I think good to know how much the parents are in for. Insurance companies exist because of these costs, they should have to cover any treatment that has significantly higher success rates, especially when the lack of coverage will result in death, or other life-long consequences.
The timing and schedule are important as the headline makes it appear this decision was in response to these kids being born with the condition, when in fact, there was no diagnosis at the time of the cut and these kids were still months away from being born when the decision was made.
Final bit, though this wasn’t in the article, the drug is being covered for these kids. It took pressure from the state government apparently, or maybe just all the bad press. Shouldn’t change anyone’s opinion on POS insurers, but it’s at least good news that these kids aren’t condemned to a death sentence.
What legitimate reason would there be to price drug like that? Is that what the r&d cost to create it? Greed. Thats where 99.9% of cost issues end up for
Zolgemsma is a modified version of adeno associated virus and has to be grown under specific conditions. It costs $500k-$1m per production.. It’s also a one time injection that functionally cures the person of the disease. There are a couple other options but for comparison, the other therapeutic is Spinraza which is an intermittent intrathecal infusion which is $805,000 for the first year of therapy and $380,000 per year thereafter for the rest of your life.
To be clear, I think we should bear the actual costs of research, development, and manufacture as a society and not profiteer off the sick, but there are some contributory reasons for the price.
yeah this video was helpful to understand the complexity in manufacturing AAVs, namely the raw size of the proteins manufacturers need to create & interweave.
👆 that little dot in the lower left corner is Aspirin (timestamp 12:00)
Wait if that’s Aspirin then how do they get the big one inside of you? 😱
Those are molecule sizes, all these molecules are still very small
If it costs 1 million to produce then anything above a 1.1 million cost is still pure greed.
Modern drugs cost tens of millions of dollars to develop at a minimum, and can easily reach into the billions.
And usually subsidized with public money.
If only there was a class of people with so much money we could tax the whole amount from them and they wouldn’t even notice.
Modern medical research targeting worldwide drug distribution is ridiculously expensive due to legislation in different countries. Gone are the days when a pharmacist could give random shit to the unsuspecting clients to see if they would survive their walk home. And I don’t think you’d want these days to come back.
The cost isn’t an issue in my mind,
How is it not?
Insurance companies exist because of these costs, they should have to cover any treatment that has significantly higher success rates, especially when the lack of coverage will result in death, or other life-long consequences.
Yes, they should. But unchecked costs are a big reason why health insurance is so awful right now. We shouldn’t tolerate this price gouging by pharmaceutical companies.
And don’t tell me it’s all about R&D.
thats less than nine months ago and insurance would have access to maternity records
Not sure how that’s relevant, can you explain a bit more about what you’re thinking? They couldn’t have been diagnosed with a need for the medication at early-stage pregnancy.
couldn’t have been
how do you know?
Because there are very few diseases and conditions that can be detected before birth, and unless they have physical development characteristics (this one doesn’t until after birth) the only way to diagnose them is an invasive procedure that it’s dangerous to the fetus so they are only done when there is a very high suspicion that there is something to detect.
so more like “unlikely” not “impossible” ?
We need medicare for all so that this doesn’t happen.
This is how we PROTECT BABIES!
The cut coverage of the drug for everybody or just the mom? There’s no reason for the drug to cost this much. They do this on purpose so less lives are saved.
on purpose
How do you know? Wouldn’t more people around mean more money for them?
The American healthcare industry is the envy of the world.
As an Australian the only thing I envy about the US is the Mexican food there.
“mexican” food… It’s tex-mex, tasty but a far cry from the real thing
Close to 40 million Hispanics of Mexican descent live in the USA. You don’t think there is good Mexican cuisine there? Because in my experience, anywhere I find Mexicans, I find some damned good vittles.
You’re being downloaded but this is true. You won’t find a burrito in Mexico City.
Dude I just got back from Mexico City and burritos do exist there. They consider it USA food along with cheeseburgers. Mexico isn’t static, they adopt food like everyone else.
it’s made for tourists just like cheeseburger
Nah dude, they were definitely eating it. You could get a gordita from a street vendor and falafel from a restaurant with both of them selling Coca Cola. People like foods from around the world, including Mexicans.
What’s most pathetic is the scale. $2.1 million may seem like a lot for a single use drug, but that $2.1 mil loss dissipated out to shareholders probably isn’t so much. I don’t have the exact numbers but I’ll bet the loss of revenue isn’t even a blip to the average shareholder income.
They’re killing newborns based for what amounts to nothing to them. It’s sick.
What revenue are talking about?
Revenue is probably the wrong word. “Stock Price” or “value” or whatever. You know what I mean though.
No, I don’t know what you mean. Because you’re clearly confusing what insurers do and what pharmas do.
Wait, so Insurance companies aren’t publicly traded companies with stockholders? Dropping a covered drug so they wouldn’t have to pay out isn’t protecting their stock price? Maybe I am confused.
What are you even talking about? You are confused, mate.
It’s not a loss if nobody was going to pay that much anyway. It’s like IP owner’s wildly inflated claims of losses due to piracy.
Interesting how insurance companies demand restrictions to “special enrollment” periods or specified times to begin coverage. It’s a tactic to prevent people from beginning coverage before taking on significant healthcare costs and then cancelling after their treatment is finished.
But yet, an insurance company is able to change coverage without following similar practices? Is just about as close to a bait and switch as you can get.
Explain to me how this drug costs that much to manufacture
I assume it doesn’t, and that includes R&D cost that can’t be spread across a large number of other doses.
Bet the research was done with public funds.
I googled… it was.
At this point I’m just waiting for an uprising to start. And a reminder Democracy will die to thunderous applause in the boardrooms.
Where’s all the pro-life people and their wallets now?
They’re born now, they don’t matter anymore. Inside the womb: the most precious in the world. Outside the womb: fuck you, scum.
The misfortunes of some are the business of others, that’s how capitalism works, I don’t know why some people are scandalized.
You don’t know why people are shocked that the system they pay into for healthcare chooses not to save them? You’re not shocked that we choose to kill babies?
I do but it’s just how capitalism work, maybe people should think about adopting other economic system instead of complaining about unfairness, the problem it’s if they have the chance they will do the same.
Complaining about how the system isn’t fair and at the same time push the “greatness of capitalism” it’s just a basic contradiction.
why is proper healthcare possible anywhere except there? Capitalism is not a us specific thing, so it can’t be relevant. We have tons of counterexamples to your argument
I’m an Aussie that’s been living in the USA for 11 years, and what I’ve noticed in the US is that there’s a lot of people that mostly care about themselves (or at most, their family) rather than the community as a whole. People don’t want free and universal health care, because they don’t want their tax dollars going towards other people, because that’s “communist” and therefore bad.
I guess the thing they don’t take into account is that their own medical expenses would also go down in price with a good universal health care system.
This is also a reason why the divide between rich and poor people is significantly larger than in other countries. People that are well-off have high paying jobs, very good health insurance, a nice place to live, etc. It’s a great country for someone that’s doing well in life. On the other hand, it’s a horrible place to be if you’re down on your luck. Once you’re homeless, it’s very hard to live day to day, and recover to where you once were. Nowhere near as much support as in other countries, since again, some people don’t want their tax dollars going towards assisting others that are less fortunate.
American laws also tend to favour companies over individuals, compared to other countries where the government focuses more on individuals.
Something about this insurer stinks. How long does it take to drop a drug from their coverage, usually? And did they know the twins would need this drug before the mother knew? If that’s the case, then her employer, who was also the insurance provider, had access to her healthcare records. They had access to all her information and likely paid her OB/GYN on the sly to tell them what was going on with the twins while in the womb.
Sad truth: Nothing about this will change until the boomers are gone.
Did they get it?
