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By Charlavan Baker Hart
May 20, 2010 (El Cajon) -- It looks like this $93,000. That is a nine, a three and three zeros!
It is also the cost of a drug just approved by the FDA for terminal prostate cancer patients.
This should not be confused with a CURE. It is only to extend the life of the patient for another two to four months. (the final months) This is not meant to be facetious. I value life as much as anyone. However, if you poll the patients I would think that very few of them want to live like THAT.
They have already given up the things they valued most about their bodies. Now, you can let them live up to another three months! (for $93,000!)
I was duly stunned when I learned the price of Herceptin (for breast cancer patients) This too was hailed as a miracle drug for breast cancer patients. It was a mere $80,000 a year. But again, it was not to be confused with a cure. This was simply to let the patient live a while longer.
It is easier to understand why they call cancer a $200,000,000 industry. I hope and pray that the huge amount of dollars people send to the American Cancer Society is directed towards a cure, and not just another drug to extend the life of a terminally ill person.
The pharmaceutical company explained that they had a difficult time pricing this medicine right because they didn’t want to scare people off with the price but they felt they had to recover the billion dollar price that the investors had spent. Wanna bet that didn’t come out of their own cash registers? Their stock has risen 25% in less than a week.
$93,000 averages out to each day costing about $1,000. So, the next time someone tells you to “Have a nice day” you should do just that. Indeed it is precious.
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