Patients Get Extreme to Obtain Hepatitis Drug That's 1% the Cost Outside U.S.

[n2doc]

This is how far one Express Scripts Holding Co. executive was willing to go to secure inexpensive versions of Gilead Sciences Inc.’s hepatitis C drug Sovaldi, unavailable to U.S. consumers under federal drug import and patent laws.

His plan: Dock a cruise ship flying an Indian flag off the coast of Miami. Stock the ship with versions of Sovaldi sold in India for $83,000 less than the U.S. retail price for 12 weeks of treatment. Ferry U.S. patients to the boat and send them home with the potentially life-saving medicines at a huge discount.

The only wrinkle in his plan wasn’t the absurdity of a pharmacy benefit manager manning and operating a cruise ship full of drugs from India. The problem, after doing some quick research into the idea, was that it would probably violate U.S. drug re-importation laws that limit the value of drugs brought into the country to $1,500 -- the price of one and a half Sovaldi tablets in the U.S., said Steve Miller, chief medical officer at Express Scripts, who came up with the idea.

“I was trying to be as creative as possible,” Miller said in an interview. “This is what the market is demanding, this level of creativity that almost borders on the ridiculous.”

Miller quickly dropped the drug boat scheme, but he says he is still searching for creative ways to save money on the $84,000 Sovaldi, which Express Scripts stopped covering for many patients this year because of the cost. He isn’t alone. A cottage industry of drug distributors, medical tourism agencies and consultants is emerging to offer patients in the U.S. and other developed countries cheap copies of Sovaldi from countries where it is sold for 1 percent of the U.S. price.

more
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-01/hepatitis-cruise-india-trips-among-plans-to-save-on-1-000-pill

Just wait, the TPP will end this. You WILL give big pharma ALL of your money. Or Die.

[libdem4life]

1. Used to go to Mexico for one very expensive prescription. 1/10th the cost.

They got pressured, so I started ordering online in Canada...they got pressured. Now, it's $1.40 per month (the generic) at my corner drug store. Believe I do have Express Scripts/now on Medicare. Even with that they likely make a profit.

My take on Big Pharma is they need to start worrying. They are a monopoly that needs to be broken up and probably nets more profits than the banks (Just a guess). I worked with the elderly for about 3 years. Only one or two did NOT have a Walmart bag half full of pills. I sat down with one lady, and we went through each one of them...one at a time. By her admission, she only needed about 1/3 of them. So I asked her to take the two bags to her doctor and reconsider her meds. Thing is, she had different doctors for different maladies, so no one really knew what she was taking. How convenient for Big Pharma is that?