The NHS certainly isn`t a perfect system, Lee.  Medical knowledge and capability has changed beyond all recognition since the NHS was brought in back in 1948 with the intention of all treatment being `free at the point of delivery` from the cradle to the grave.  People are living longer and receiving much higher levels of treatment and more effective drugs for many different diseases, which is wonderful but it puts ever more strain on the NHS budget.  And yes, it is very strapped for cash!  More privatisation is the way it`s heading, which is fine as long as the most vulnerable and needy patients don`t lose out and as long as standards can be maintained.  I`m not sure we have an answer to those questions over here yet...it`s still a work in progress. 

Cinnamon Girl wrote:

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NICE (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) has a duty to consider every new drug on a cost/benefit basis before it`s approved for use within our National Health Service, which is already working within huge financial constraints, and it also has a duty to UK tax payers who ultimately foot the bill. 

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 I am shocked, I tell you that the UK Nationalized health care system is under such difficulties - it was held up as a model to all of us heartless Americans as an example of a model system....so we voted in the Affordable Care Act.....and like the UK, foot the bill   <smile>

Suggest some of you review the unintended consequences of price control:

The concept of unintended consequences is one of the building blocks of economics. Adam Smiths invisible hand, the most famous metaphor in social science, is an example of a positive unintended consequence. Smith maintained that each individual, seeking only his own gain, is led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention, that end being the public interest. It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, Smith wrote, but from regard to their own self interest.

People outraged about high prices of plywood in areas devastated by hurricanes, for example, may advocate price controls to keep the prices closer to usual levels. An unintended consequence is that suppliers of plywood from outside the region, who would have been willing to supply plywood quickly at the higher market price, are less willing to do so at the government-controlled price. Thus results a shortage of a good where it is badly needed.

Thanks for posting this Lee.  You really can`t blame the UK for negotiating (or demanding!) the best deal possible for Sovaldi though, and somehow I don`t think Gilead or anyone else will lose out by this price agreement.  NICE (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) has a duty to consider every new drug on a cost/benefit basis before it`s approved for use within our National Health Service, which is already working within huge financial constraints, and it also has a duty to UK tax payers who ultimately foot the bill. 

The more pressure on Gilead to reduce the price the better.  Well done the UK, I say! 

Thanks isiscat, I particularly like the idea of giving Sovaldi away for free to everyone who needs it over here...I`m sure Gilead could afford it! 

Isis,

   still love you too ...and enjoy a good debate.

I tried to be fair in my statement about some in the US getting negotiated discounts......the key point I was trying to get over is that this is not a negotiation - it is a demand......

lee

Medicaid gets an automatic 23% discount and states are free to negotiate even greater discounts.  For example Florida has already negotiated an additional discount above and beyond the 23%.  The VA gets a 44% discount.  US private insurance/pharmacies will most certainly be negotiating some deep discounts.

Wow, it looks like the UK isn't really pulling one over on us, after all.    If it was up to me I'd give it away to our friends across the pond for free.  That's after I took it away from the pharma gangsters who place profits above people (Phangsters?) and placed it in more humane hands.  Luv u still, Lee.  

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/14/us-health-hepatitis-gilead-sciences-idUSKBN0GE2G420140814?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

UK drug-cost watchdog NICE said today it would provisionally back hepatitis C pill Sovaldi for chronically ill patients although at a reduced price from what's been seen in the US ($58,400 vs. $84,000a 30% discount) for a 12-week course of treatment, Reuters reported.

Further evidence that US patients will be subsidizing drugs for the rest of the world.   Suggest the US ask for evidence on pricing of the Range Rover which (unlike Sovaldi's effectiveness) is almost always very low on Consumer Reports quality ratings.  Upon receiving such evidence, the US should ignore and then decide on a new price 30% lower.   This car is priced too high for middle americans like to to afford.....actually we need a way for everyone to have it......

 to be fair, Sovaldi does discount for Medicare and VA in the US - but this is negotiated/agreed upon and affects the neediest only.

I know, one is healthcare and the other is transportation but this is a slippery slope IMHO.

lee

-- Edited by longld on Sunday 17th of August 2014 04:46:18 AM