New Low for TEVA/Copaxone

[Hopeful4Future]

Headline from Fox Business......"Teva Asks FDA Not to Approve New MS Drugs Till Advisers Evaluate Safety" (especially BG-12).

Apparently Teva is so concerned about all of our safety that they want the FDA to put on hold ANY new ms medication until another third party validates and approves the data submitted for drug approval.

TEVA states they are most concerned about BG-12 and its affect on mouse livers. Never mind this drug has been around for 20 years and its already proved been proved safe!

Pure greed.....I am on copaxone... and between this type of extortion and the 35 percent increase in cost over the last three years they have slammed down my throat I cant wait for another option. I am tempted to call them and tell them they can have their drug back and my insurance can keep the 5 thousand a month they are paying to these creeps. Sad.

[JerryD]

Aww, Heck! You paint a bleak picture of Teva the 'corporate citizen'. You know that Teva ( and any other drug maker ) will do anything to protect their investment in their patented drug. The problem is that this stuff runs counter to the needs of the user / patient. Try to imagine the notion of selling a product that is really a 'band-aid' approach to solving a medical problem, that costs $100 million to bring to market. Then, the CEO, has to determine how much time the drug needs unimpeded access to the market (us ) to profit an acceptable level. The simple answer is that healing the consumer is not the end goal, profit is.
You know that the mark-up number for a retail item is usually between 100% and 1000%. And the companies' executives have the legal obligation to feed their company and protect their livelihoods ( and those of their stockholders ). So where does that put us ? The free market is a 'fickle' partner.

[its2much]

Teva was sued

a couple of years ago over their patent on Copaxone - anyone know what the result was? Lawsuit just kinda faded away.

[Hopeful4Future]

Yep Jerry

I get the picture...I know the business...have actually been part of it so when I see something so aggregious as this it should be unlawful. This company has recouped the expense of the R and D on this drug and dozens more many years back. This borders on extortion....by preying on folks who are sick with worry they have a captive audience so to speak. In the future I will avoid Teva and would encourage others to do the same.

Before we get the pitchforks and torches out, just remember that BG-12 is made by the same company as Avonex and Tysabri drugs. I don't believe any drug company has philanthropy on their agenda.

[Hopeful4Future]

Nope....

However Prayers........ I've never seen Biogen build an overt lobbying effort to suppress a drug(s) thousands of us need! And until they do this I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Teva has made a killing on this drug, I own pharmaceutical stock, I know the cost of R & D, its expensive and I was appreciative of Copaxone right up until the point where I felt like I was being extorted.

And I haven't even mentioned the real evil here.....Teva is using this tactic to try and scare Dr.'s and patients away from what looks like a very good drug.....50% effective vs. 30 for Copaxone. Greed is bad enough but to use scare tactics is shameless.

Pitchfork in hand.

As a person with MS, I would love to see BG-12 be "THE" drug that we have all been waiting for. I started reading the buzz about this wonder-drug in this very forum soon after my diagnosis. While researching this drug I discovered that it was NOT the same drug that was being used in Germany, but rather it was 1 of the 4 Esters in Fumaderm.

Calcium Monoethyl Fumarate
Dimethyl Fumarate <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Magnesium Monoethyl Fumarate
Zinc Monoethyl Fumarate

How can we blindly attribute the safety profile of the amalgam to only one of the components? If Dimethyl Fumarate is given by itself at a different dosage, what will be the side effects?

I do not know Teva's motivation for this statement, greed or concern, but I will be on the sidelines for this drug's safety to be sorted out.

Lets all pray that it is a safe medical breakthrough.

^Compound rather than amalgam^

My MS brain went to dental land

[JerryD]

Hopeful,
Your presence on this site is precisely the reason I look to the posters on this board for knowledge and advice. I am trusting that you have experience in the pharmaceutical field and know a bit more than me about its inner workings.
You smell a rat. And I did too. If there is a difference in the drug from the drug used in Europe, that's the FDA's job to do. Thanks for raising the issue. Good luck

[cokie]

A couple companies ready to market generic copaxone were sued by Teva Sciences, on the basis that their stockholders needed time to adjust to the loss of income from copaxone. Unfortunately they won the law suit and the other companies will be unable to produce generic copaxone until 2016. In the meantime, they have increased the price of copaxone to just under $5000/month. So, you have insurance and and don't worry about what it costs/month? Wel, wait until u reitre and are on Medicare. total screw job

[cherylllong]

Copaxone and Hair Loss

Why is my hair falling out, i was dx in 3/12 been on copaxone since may 2012. What can i get to restore my hair, is this medicine like chemo, would like to know

[Scooter24]

While researching this drug I discovered that it was NOT the same drug that was being used in Germany, but rather it was 1 of the 4 Esters in Fumaderm

I totally agree with you on this, also I have never seen any data saying what the dosage will be compared to what it has been for the last 20yrs, does anybody have that info, no saying it will be safe in a different dosage.It bothers me that soooo many people are standing in line waiting to jump on it the day it is on the market as if it will be the miracle drug. Me I will also stand on the sideline for at least 2 yrs to see what happens with it, starting on it with no track record would bother me much more than an possible problems with myTysabri.

[BigA]

What? Complaining about the ethics of Pharmaceutical companies? If you want to read all about it, why not read what the drug reps say? Teva and Biogen reps are mortal enemies and battle it out in the doctors offices and on line.

Google these words and you will be surprised at what goes on in the background about these meds.

cafe pharma forums biogen
cafe pharma forums teva

[Kickboxer2]

Thanks Big A for the links........I must say.....it doesn't make me wanna run out and do an injection........it makes me want to go nature path and take on the MSmonster without them!

It makes me so angry to think we are all struggling for a proven pill form drug while the powerful decisions are being made without much input from the patients.........

[onlyairfare]

For those of us in the US, bear in mind that "We the People" choose to have our predominantly for-profit health care system, including publicly traded for-profit drug companies. We should not be surprised that they do what they are required to do - make money via whatever tactics are allowed by law (and some such tactics are borderline lawful at best).

When I first started Copaxone in 2002 the cash price was $985 per month and presumably Teva was profitable with Copaxone selling at that price. Now that it is $5,000 per month, thanks to Hopeful's story from Fox and BigA's links, we can see where the $4,015 difference has been used: lawsuits and drug rep salaries and bonuses, probably to stockholders also (though I admittedly have not looked at Teva's financials).

We the patients are immaterial extras in this film.