A few months ago, Mike Gray, a bowel cancer patient, gave the Scottish Parliament one of its more uncomfortable moments, as he asked for the right to be given Cetuximab, a new cancer drug, on the NHS. He had already spent £26 000 buying his treatment privately, and had been penalised for this by the NHS, who do not allow private and public treatment to run together. Yesterday, Nicola Sturgeon announced that there would be a review of whether co-payments would be allowed. This has ignited the debate about whether this would result in the thin-edge-of-the-wedge means tested payments for treatment; others chose to castigate NICE (The National Institute of Clinical Excellence) for not allowing Cetuximab to be on prescription. But the one question that hasn't been asked is; why are this new class of cancer drugs so expensive in the first place?
That's the question that Slate, the American online magazine asked in this artice. And it was a real eye opener. Here in Britain, the cost of Cetuximab,Zevalin and Avastin are £35 000,£12 000 and £20 000 per annum. But for the US, the costs are $16 000, $17 000 and $24 000 per month! You do the math, but it's pretty obvious that these drug companies are thinking of a number and then multiplying it by how much they think they can get away with.
I never thought I would agree with NICE on anything, especially when they restricted the prescription of dementia medicines, but I am with them on this. The drugs companies are the real villains here, but the media have completely missed the target and are blaming NICE instead. It's a vile thing to hold sick people to ransom and that is what the pharmaceutical giants are doing. I can understand a high charge for a medicine like Zevalin, which is used for non-Hodgkins, a relatively rare secondary cancer of the lymph glands. But Avastin and Cetuximab are both for colorectal cancer, a very common cancer. How can they justify these prices?
As far as co-payments go, the jury is out. I have mixed feelings about where such legislation should go. But I think the media should turn a very large spotlight on the pharmaceutical companies and ask them why they are charging the prices they are and what their profit margin is. This is the nub of a controversy which is becoming increasingly misdirected. Don't watch the lady. Watch the prestidigitation of the pharmaceuticals...
