A group of more than 120 cancer researchers and
physicians took the unusual step this week of publishing a research
paper taking aim at pharmaceutical prices they see as exorbitant and
unjustifiable.
Drug companies are profiteering, the
doctors say, by charging whatever the market will bear for medications
that patients literally can't live without.
Gleevec is the kind of miracle pill cancer researchers dream about. Introduced in 2001, the drug and others in its class dramatically increased the survival rate for CML and transformed it from a lethal disease to one that is usually chronic but manageable. It's like having hypertension or diabetes, doctors say -- so long as you take your daily drugs.
Novartis sold Gleevec in 2001 for an annual cost of $30,000, now more than $76,000 in the U.S.
Why is the price 10 times the cost of other countries?
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