New Cures, Big Prices Mean Some Go Without Best Treatments
In other health care marketplace news, a lab prepares to settle over expensive Medicare drug tests, and The New York Times looks more closely at the "female Viagra." Additionally, biotech jobs are up, but pharma jobs lag, and The Wall Street Journal examines why many don't buy long-term care insurance.
USA Today:
Skyrocketing Drug Prices Leave Cures Out Of Reach For Some Patients
Sophisticated drugs are opening the door, scientists say, to an era of "precision medicine." They're also ushering in an age of astronomical prices. New cancer drugs are routinely priced at more than $100,000 a year -- nearly twice the average household income. Experimental cholesterol drugs – widely predicted to be approved this summer – could cost $10,000 a year for life. That's a huge increase from the price of statins, the dominant cholesterol-lowering drugs, whose generic versions cost just $250 a year. ... Even with insurance, patients may pay thousands of dollars a month out of pocket. (Szabo, 6/14)
The Wall Street Journal:
Lab Nears Settlement Over Pricey Medicare Drug Tests
The nation’s largest drug-testing laboratory, Millennium Health LLC, is negotiating a major settlement over allegations it billed the federal government for unnecessary tests, the latest sign of a crackdown on the fast-growing industry. Settlement talks come as the federal Medicare agency is proposing broad changes to the way it pays for urine drug tests that could save taxpayers money and cut into drug testers’ revenue. Such tests can search for drugs including narcotic pain pills and illegal substances such as angel dust and club drugs like MDMA. (Weaver and Wilde Mathews, 6/14)
The New York Times:
Aid To Women, Or Bottom Line? Advocates Split On Libido Pill
The [feminists] together with a public relations company, Blue Engine Message & Media, are central players in the unusual story of how a female libido pill that had been twice rejected by the F.D.A. achieved a surprise success on June 4, when a panel of experts recommended the agency approve it. The F.D.A. has not yet made a final decision. ... Less noticed were women’s groups that refused to join the campaign, contending that waving the flag of gender bias would undermine what should be an impartial process based on science. ... The campaign divided the normally cohesive women’s health community, which has long fought together for access to birth control and for abortion rights. (Tavernise and Pollack, 6/13)
The Philadelphia Inquirer:
Biotech Jobs Up, Pharma Down Nationally
When health-care giant Johnson & Johnson told Renold Capocasale in October 2009 that he was losing his job, he got very quiet, which was not the norm for a friendly, chatty guy. "That was absolutely the lowest day of my life," Capocasale said recently. "I really questioned my self-worth. I had published many things and been promoted lots of times, but I thought, 'Why me?' " Scroll forward to the present, and Capocasale has more than recovered. In March, he celebrated the fifth anniversary of incorporating his small biotech company, FlowMetric. He will join about 15,000 people when BIO, the national biotech trade association, holds its annual convention at the Pennsylvania Convention Center on Monday through Thursday. (Sell, 6/14)
The Wall Street Journal:
Why People Don’t Buy Long-Term-Care Insurance
When it comes to long-term care, two facts stand out. First, an estimated 70% of people will need such care, which will be costly. And second, most of them refuse to buy insurance to cover it. The question is, why? Part of the explanation, no doubt, is that long-term-care insurance is expensive. Some people also may be assuming, incorrectly, that they will qualify for government assistance to help them pay for nursing-home care. Rules are in place to disqualify many who won’t meet the strict conditions required. (Mitchell and Gottlieb, 6/14)
