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Live and Learn

(12,769 posts)
Sat Apr 27, 2013, 04:18 PM Apr 2013

Gilead-Bristol Hepatitis C Drug Combo Cures 100% in Study

But you can't get the cure due to corporate greed!

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-27/gilead-bristol-hepatitis-c-drug-combo-cures-100-in-study.html?cmpid=yhoo

By Simeon Bennett - Apr 27, 2013 9:30 AM PT

A combination of hepatitis C drugs from Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY) cured 100 percent of patients in a trial, showing the success of a cocktail that doctors say they want yet may never be approved.

In a study among 41 patients of Gilead’s sofosbuvir combined with Bristol’s daclatasvir, with or without the generic antiviral ribavirin, 40 had undetectable virus in their blood 12 weeks after finishing six months of treatment, according to results presented today at a meeting in Amsterdam. The other patient didn’t turn up to the last appointment and was later found to be virus-clear. Patients in both groups had failed prior treatment with either Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX)’s Incivek or Merck & Co. (MRK)’s Victrelis.

The two companies have planned no further trials of the combo because Foster City, California-based Gilead is focusing on a cocktail that contains only its own drugs. The lack of a late-stage study, and the expense of the pills, will probably put the combination out of reach for doctors and patients, said Geoffrey Dusheiko, a professor of medicine at the Royal Free Hospital in London.



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Gilead-Bristol Hepatitis C Drug Combo Cures 100% in Study (Original Post) Live and Learn Apr 2013 OP
I've been deferring treatment for Hep C. Comrade Grumpy Apr 2013 #1
The problem is that Big-Pharma only cares about profit Live and Learn Apr 2013 #3
That is horrifying. BethanyQuartz Apr 2013 #2
41 patients.... OneBlueDotBama Apr 2013 #4
But they were failures on previous drug trials Yo_Mama Apr 2013 #6
It was 41 patients that hadn't been cured with conventional treatments. Live and Learn Apr 2013 #8
This is a weakness of how the FDA works Recursion Apr 2013 #5
Nationalize the corporations... hunter Apr 2013 #7
I agree. Nationalize Big Pharma, eliminate the insurance parasites... Comrade Grumpy Apr 2013 #9
 

Comrade Grumpy

(13,184 posts)
1. I've been deferring treatment for Hep C.
Sat Apr 27, 2013, 04:26 PM
Apr 2013

Although a vampire probably doesn't want to bite me, I am asymptomatic at this point.

I have deferred treatment for the past two years because the currently approved treatments are both only sometimes effective and quite debilitating. I can't afford to lie on my couch for six months or a year waiting to see if I'm cured.

There are promising new treatments coming down the pike, and a whole lot of interest from Big Pharma, because whoever finds a good cure will be sitting on a gold mine given the prevalence of Hep C.

I'm payin $700 a month for health insurance, but I'm not at all certain my provider will pay for the newest, most effective, least adverse effects drugs.

I hate our whole health care system with a passion. I'm afraid it's going to be the death of me.

Live and Learn

(12,769 posts)
3. The problem is that Big-Pharma only cares about profit
Sat Apr 27, 2013, 04:57 PM
Apr 2013

not people's lives.

But there have been huge strides made in Hep C research and the future looks promising for those suffering from it. Hang in there, Grumpy.

OneBlueDotBama

(1,370 posts)
4. 41 patients....
Sat Apr 27, 2013, 05:09 PM
Apr 2013

I have seen HCV treatments claim 80%, 60% yada, yada, yada over the last 15 years. 41 patients is not something to get excited about, just my humble opinion.

Yo_Mama

(8,303 posts)
6. But they were failures on previous drug trials
Sat Apr 27, 2013, 05:17 PM
Apr 2013

so it assumes more significance.

However a much larger trial would be needed to know for sure, and it doesn't seem that the company can recoup the expense, so for now....

Live and Learn

(12,769 posts)
8. It was 41 patients that hadn't been cured with conventional treatments.
Sat Apr 27, 2013, 06:06 PM
Apr 2013

And a 100% cure rate for them is quite extraordinary.

Recursion

(56,582 posts)
5. This is a weakness of how the FDA works
Sat Apr 27, 2013, 05:11 PM
Apr 2013

The FDA only assesses claims that producers pay them to assess. A drug both cures impotence and prevents heart disease? If the manufacturer only wants to pay for the impotence cure to be assessed, that's all the label can say. And physicians who say that it prevents heart disease, even if peer-reviewed studies say so, can be sued.

hunter

(38,240 posts)
7. Nationalize the corporations...
Sat Apr 27, 2013, 05:50 PM
Apr 2013

... and let their SCIENTISTS continue their research in generously funded university programs.

Kick all the money and marketing people to the curb. Maybe they can find real jobs that actually contribute to the common good; cleaning sewers or something.

The theory of capitalism says corporations contribute to the common good. Whenever they don't, justice ought to be swift in the form of a corporate death penalty. Corporations ought to be held to much higher standards than individuals. The moment they become harmful to society they ought to be killed. There ought to be special courts and regulatory oversight for these sorts of actions.

In such a regulatory environment where the threat of dissolution and nationalization was credible and frequently implemented, these two corporations might quickly come to some sort of cross licensing agreement and share reasonable, well regulated profits from this novel drug combo.

Instead it sounds like they want "the prize" all for themselves, to charge as much as they can, even as sick people who can't pay die. After all, a corporation's first responsibility is to its shareholders... Well, let it be thus, but also let corporations know that if they fail society in the larger accounting, not just the money, then their shareholders will lose when the corporation is shut down.

 

Comrade Grumpy

(13,184 posts)
9. I agree. Nationalize Big Pharma, eliminate the insurance parasites...
Sat Apr 27, 2013, 06:44 PM
Apr 2013

...clean up all the other "let's profit off sickness" crap that infests our system, and we could have good health care for everybody. But given our totally corrupted political system, that would require a revolution.

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