response to Lynn

[Guest guest]

At 04:44 PM 11/7/05 +0000, you wrote:

>Was Alpha-Interferon's price set high because it is difficult to

>manufacture? (You see I know nothing about pharmaceuticals).

>Luckily, I was dx-d after Gleevec came to market, but I am aware of

>what other cml'ers went through. I don't think people could have

>been on Interferon long term. They would have died first or wanted

>to die if they knew they were going to be on the stuff for 30 plus

>years!

Yes, Inf is difficult to manufacture.....like other biological drugs such as

Procrit, which costs $500 or more per shot. The difference with Inf

is that some patients got a cytogenetic remission that was durable,

meaning that they could go off the drug after a period of time. This is

because Inf somehow affects the immune system. We know that

Gleevec is not expected to do this and you will remain on the drug.

In the Inf era, if you were not in the lucky small % who did get to CCR,

then you probably went on to transplant if you had a donor.

>Has anybody ever asked the Top CML Doctors or Researchers what

>their feelings are about the price of Gleevec?

Per Dr. Druker, at the time Gleevec was approved, Gleevec was priced

similar to Inf, the present front-line treatment for CML .....because if Inf

were a cheaper treatment, insurance companies might make you try it

first (well, that was one reason).

Also to Zavie......I guess I disagree that this type of discussion has to

become a " charged " political discussion.........regardless of our " party "

in the US, it is something that touches us all and is a concern to all of

us. I think chat is limited because it does not suit a lot of people....

timewise, etc. Maybe we can see if Dr. can shed any light

on these topics for us.

C.