The cost of medication

[Kara10]

Can anyone tell me how the cost of medications are determined or at least where I can locate this information?

The price of Ticfidera maybe the highest of all the disease modifying medications.

Who sets these prices and how do the insurance companies determine their rates of reimbursement to the pharmaceutical companies?

Thanks

[Marco]

The price of Tecfidera is roughly $55k/year. Gilenya is more expensive at roughly $60k/year. Biogen is hoping this will grant it a competitive advantage over Gilenya in the oral market.

Bean counters set the price. A drug may cost $1 billion to bring to market after trials, failures, tweaks, researchers, lawyers and especially dealing with the FDA.

Worst is when you spend $1 billion and a drug fails.

Now a company is $1 billion in debt and they need to not only cover the cost of THIS medication, but they need to be profitable enough to research new medicines, fight off lawsuits, protect copyrights, etc.

So 10-keys and 25 page excel docments are reviewed and presented. Sales & Marketing geniuses then gather around a burning trash can casting chicken legs until a price is agreed to. They in turn submit that information to management and they review their current stock valuation, experts opinions of their stock and then use a magic 8 ball to come to their final answer.

The second a profitable drug hits generic manufacturers are chomping at the bit for the 2nd they can turn a profit by undercutting the founding company. Patients file lawsuits that drug x made them lost precious IQ points they could not afford to lose and marketing presentations are scheduled.

OMG, sorry Kara ... I just started to ramble a bit ....

nope, bg-12 will not be the most expensive drug ... and yes, they will have a patient assistance program to help those that cannot afford it by charing insurance companies MORE to cover the uninsured.

[Kara10]

Your assessment makes sound business sense; however, why don't the insurance companies balk at the prices?

I know that it costs 1 billion to bring a disease modifying med go market. I also know that out of 100 drugs submitted to the FDA for approval, one makes it to the US market.

The pharmaceutical companies are still making extremely large profits so something about their explanation does not ring true.

I am very concerned about the cost of health insurance and how much longer the market can withstand these incredibly high prices.

[Kara10]

Forbes is reporting the cost of Ticfidera at $55,000 per year. This comes out to $4,583 per month and $76 per pill with 60 pills per month.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewh...rug-tecfidera/

[rdmc]

Forbes is reporting the cost of Ticfidera at $55,000 per year. This comes out to $4,583 per month and $76 per pill with 60 pills per month.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewh...rug-tecfidera/

Thanks for the link. I found this interesting, but they didn't elaborate...anyone know what they're talking about? I know it's been used for psoriasis in Europe, but don't know what this statement's about

"Tecfidera has a colorful history: it was originally used to treat sofas, but gave people rashes."

[knuckle]

Evidently, Dimethyl Fumarate ("Tecfidera") can be purchased online in bulk for $75 a bag.

I also read that the ingredient cost for Biogen is about .01 cent per pill.

Fumaric Acid (from which you make "Fumaric Acid Esters", which is also called "Dimethyl Fumarate") that has been used by dermatologists for years to treat Psoriasis, like "Fumaderm" is used today in Europe (Fumaderm = Dimethyl Fumarate) can be purchased for about $30 a bottle.

So, if you don't have the insurance coverage for the truly obscene pricing of Tecfidera you may want to try giving Fumaric Acid a try with a similar dosing schedule because it may come close to doing the same thing as Tecfidera.

For that matter, if you do a little research into how Fumaric Acid is formed in the body, you'll discover Vitamin D plays a critical role and there is a link between Fumaric Acid deficiency and MS, Psoriasis as well as other autoimmune diseases.

Fumaric Acid deficiency quite possibly results from a vitamin D deficiency which supports why MS, Psoriasis, etc., are often more prevalent in darker, colder latitudes of the world.

Fumaric Acid, vitamin D, are also necessary to produce Endorphins, which are hormones that regulate the immune system. This is what I think Tecfidera is doing. Tecfidera is boosting endorphins circulating in the blood and these endorphins are suppressing harmful Tcells that attack our myelin sheath.

[337582750]

You can get 100 mg of dimethyl fumarate from Sigma for $56.20. 240 mg x 2/day x 365 days = 175 g/year. Drug raw cost ~$100. Clearly cost is for years of R&D and approvals.

[rdmc]

You can get 100 mg of dimethyl fumarate from Sigma for $56.20. 240 mg x 2/day x 365 days = 175 g/year. Drug raw cost ~$100. Clearly cost is for years of R&D and approvals.

Well, I can see that with a lot of drugs, but wasn't this an already existing medication. So the cost would have to do with trials, FDA approval, etc

Call me jaded, but I think the cost is set according to what the market will bare.

Since I started taking Beta, it has gone up, probably doubled in cost over the past 10 years. So it's risen with the cost of the others.

Biogen now has an injectible, an infusion drug, and a pill, they've covered all their bases They've priced the med a little below Gilenya so they can say it's not the most expensive.

[Kronk]

Has anyone actually taken the raw form Dimethyl fumarate 97% from Sigma?

I am very interested but don't want to poison myself... Also can it be used in combination with Copaxone?

Being that Copaxone is just a blend of 4 amino acids and the Dimethyl fumerate is just food for the krebs cycle I don't see how it would be an issue. But treating my body like a petri dish isn't the best course of action either.