[Ip-health] Robert Goldberg on the Prize of Revlimid

[James Love]

Robert does not like the Prize Fund approach... He can't explain why
a reward system based upon health outcomes is worse than one tied to
drug prices, and he is happy to mischaracterize the actual content of
HR 417.  Jamie

http://www.drugwonks.com/archives/2006/07/the_price_of_re.php

July 05, 2006
The Price Of Revlimid, The Price of Life
By Robert Goldberg

Geeta Anand had another sob story about the high price of biotech
drugs. This time it was about Revlimid, Celgene=92s drug for treating
multiple mylema, Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) an illness associated
with the underproduction of blood cells and possibly ALS if the
results with transgenic mice are replicated in human trials. Geeta is
upset that Revlimid retails for about $6400 a month. Mind you, that=92s
for a drug which appears to extend for a year or more the lives of
about 6000 people who are facing certain death. The cancer stopped
progressing in most patients after seven treatments and they were
disease free 9.6 months after followup. People with multiple myeloma
can live disease free for years. A true breakthrough. Is that worth
$6400 a month. A house in the Hamptons is. So is a month at Harvard
for the matter.

Revlimid is also approved to treat patients with transfusion-
dependent anemia due to low- or intermediate-1-risk myelodysplastic
syndromes (MDS) associated with a deletion 5q cytogenetic abnormality
with or without additional cytogenetic abnormalities. That is, it=92s a
genetically targeted therapy for MDS which itself affects about 10000
people a year.

Both diseases are devastating, either fatal or life crippling. But
they are not blockbuster in size. They are orphan diseases. Revlimid
is a medicine that will control them with specific regimens and in
specific quantities. As it is studied further, funding for which will
come from Celgene=92s well deserved profits and not any idiotic Cracker
Jack prize competition suggested by Jamie Love or Bernie Sanders in
lieu of real rewards (let=92s divide .5 of our GDP by the contribution
of the increase to the quality of life years divided by the number of
patients, less the total cost of care, less the NIH investment which
equals the reward less the 90 percent tax rate=85) and in the wake of
patent seizures, we might see even wider and newer uses, including ALS.

And one more thing. What if Celgene is a one hit wonder? Celegene now
has a full pipeline of products in development. What if none of them
get approved? Revlimid might have a 97 percent gross margin but that
goes to pay for all the other research. That=92s the company=92s venture
capital for future biomedical discovery activity. You can=92t finance
the future of medicine on WSJ criticism or Jamie Love=92s Cracker Jack
prizes. And by the way, isn=92t worth $72k to beat back cancer?


04:49 PM Posted to Current Affairs | Comments (0) TrackBacks (0)

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---------------------------------
James Love, CPTech / www.cptech.org / mailto:james.love@cptech.org /
tel. +1.202.332.2670 / mobile +1.202.361.3040

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