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area51newmexico
Goddess
Joined: 08 Jul 2005
Posts: 10598
Location: East Yorkshire, England
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 Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2009 1:06 pm Post subject: How much is a life worth? |
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| Quote: | A drug that can prolong the lives of patients with advanced liver cancer has been rejected for use in the NHS in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) said the cost of Nexavar - about £3,000 a month - was "simply too high". |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8367614.stm
What do you think? Is there or should there be a limit to how much can be spent on a person's illness?
My question is why is this drug so expensive? Looks to me like the drug companies are making a huge profit.
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spartman
Veteran Contributer
Joined: 26 Jan 2009
Posts: 259
Location: Northern Idaho
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| Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2009 5:01 pm Post subject: |
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Helen,
Drug prices have risen by 9 percent this year alone. Health care/ drug prices are the fastest rising cost here in the states. Supposedly the legislation is supposed to save x amount of money over a 10 year period. BAH ! Big Pharma has recovered their supposed give back already and it keeps just getting worse.
And this all for side affect laden chemicals that can , in many cases, be worse than what they are supposed to help. for what ? Is this ultra expensive drug a cure ? Or does it just prolong the inevitable for a few months or a year.
One thing is for sure. The medical / drug companies have enough Senators and congress people in their pocket to insure their extortion continues.
So , to answer your question, No, I do not think that you can place a monetary value on a human life. The way the system is in the states though places a high price on living on.
Rant over.
Spart 
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Lamiaceae
Site Administrator
Joined: 05 Jul 2006
Posts: 7651
Location: To the right of my computer
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| Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 8:04 pm Post subject: |
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What quality of life does this give?
Do you still look like Alexander Litvinenko after being poisoned ?
Or do you look like the proverbial skipping down a park lane with young children holding your hands and you having a big smile on your face?
No, you cannot put a price on a life. And judging by the article, this person wanted to live as long as possible, so i'd say she was quite capable of having a good quality of life.
I have no idea why it's so expensive myself though the article suggests
| Quote: |
the manufacturer's justification of the treatment's cost in relation to its benefit was not sufficient to gain acceptance
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In other words, NICE don't believe either that the high price tag is worthy of what it does even though it does do a lot of good.
It's used in other places around the world, would be good to compare prices there perhaps? - we've seen it in the past where goods here are sold at far higher prices than what they are elsewhere.
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pickle
Forum Champion
Joined: 19 Jul 2006
Posts: 1849
Location: UK
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| Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 6:35 pm Post subject: |
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The thing is there aren't that many other options for this type of cancer.
For other cancers there are many different types of treatment that people can have where as with this cancer there are only a couple, so surely people should be able to have the option to have it, but only if it offers a better quality of life which isn't being stuck in a bed or a house 24/7.
I don't actually know why the prices are so high I can only guess is it to put back into researching or buying equipment to be able to 'make' the drugs they need to. I don't agree with the prices the have set for this drug in particular but my nice side wants to believe they are using the money for the better not worse. I feel I maybe wrong.
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