Every now and then we tell you about the breakthrough scientific discoveries, thanks to which medicine is able to defeat previously incurable diseases. All this, of course, is wonderful, but only as long as it does not come to the cost of such miracle drugs. Take gene therapy, which has been developing at an incredible rate in recent years. The drug Kymriah, for example, is able to defeat some forms of blood and bone marrow cancer, but a course of treatment with it will cost $ 475,000 (more than 27 million rubles). Are all the medicines of the future going to cost such cosmic money?
Are people capable of giving such huge sums of money to pharmaceutical corporations? This question was asked by the journalists of the New Atlas portal, having stumbled upon the announcement of the Luxturna drug from Spark Therapeutics. This drug is able to defeat a rare form of hereditary disease that damages the retina, in fact, restoring a person's vision. The cost of the medicine amazed even experienced specialists. A course of taking Luxturna will cost those who want to be cured a crazy 850,000 dollars (more than 49 million rubles).
The pharmaceutical industry gives rise to conflicting feelings in many people. On the one hand, we need drugs, and pharmaceutical companies spend hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars on the development and research of new drugs that save people's health and their lives. However, sometimes we witness how the cost of some drugs is completely unreasonably overstated by tens of times. The creators of Luxturna are well aware that there are not so many clients in the world who can part with $ 850,000 at a time. That is why they published a press release offering to buy the medicine in installments or on credit.
“It takes a very long time to develop new genetic treatments for diseases, as well as huge investments. Once the FDA approves these treatments, you have to pay for them. The sustainability of the entire industry depends on the profits that pharmaceutical companies generate,”commented Stuart Orkin, head of pediatric oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Here everything is the same as with the payment of the mortgage. You can order a purchase of a course of the drug with the division of payments for many years in advance. Among other things, the pharmaceutical company offered its clients a system of discounts, depending on how efficiently the recovery process will be. If the drug cannot completely overcome blindness or show ineffectiveness in the first 30-90 days of treatment, the company will reimburse part of the client's expenses, returning him part of the money spent.
However, no matter how frightened we are by such prices for medicines, everyone wants to live. This is why many Americans are likely to agree to the payment terms offered by Spark Therapeutics and others. There are a number of diseases that cost about $ 300,000 a year to treat, including hemophilia. And this treatment is necessary for a person for life, and not once. Agree that against the background of such costs, the amount of 850,000 no longer seems so frightening. Nevertheless, it is very scary to imagine a future in which mankind has learned to defeat previously incurable diseases, but only the richest inhabitants of our planet can afford it.
Sergey Gray