User:Andy.thomas/BlogEntry: 2008 August 19 10:38:25 BST
From Kidney Cancer Resource
Another response from Paul Flynn and my reply
Reply from Paul Flynn
Andy, I watched the link and anyone would have a heart of stone not to feel sympathy for the patients who may lose a drug that they trust.
I have no knowledge of this case, but I do know how Big Pharma works and it's not pretty.
It's a commercial calculation. A ridiculous price is set for drugs that were expensive to research but cost pennies to manufacture . Big Pharma enlists PR companies to expensively market the drug. That adds more to the high price. A patient who will attract public sympathy is promoted and (often trained) to present the most heart breaking account of their plight. These are a hard-headed business stunts that exploit all our emotions in order to serve the financial interests of Big Pharma. There can never be an infinite budget and hard choices are inevitable in the real world. That choice is best made by an independent body like Nice that any group that is open to pressure and bullying from Big Pharma- that includes politicians.
My Reponse
Hi Paul
There are so many of these stories sadly. I'm sure you saw the Panorama report last night on this subject.
With Kidney Cancer the fact is that these drugs work. Today, yet again I received notification from a patient who's tumours have reduced by 10cm on each side using Sutent. He's only been using it for a few months and the results are fantastic. Guess what, he had to find money privately to do it, totally unfair. I've received a number of comments both privately and on my blog today and yesterday from fellow cancer patients and carers in the US who are telling us that they work.
N.I.C.E cannot ignore the clinical evidence.
Yes the pharmas probably do charge too much, but that to me is a different battle. If a drug works then to me the NHS is obliged to give it i.e. "Treatment at the Point of Need", especially when the experts in the field prescribe it. Can you imagine what it feels like for a cancer patient to be told by their oncologist that there is a drug that works for their condition but the NHS wont provide it? It's cruelty.
If the government, NICE and the PCTs want to go into battle with the pharmas over cost, fantastic, I'm sure you will get support from all quarters. However please lets not kill patients in the mean time to make a point over those costs. That to me is using people's life's as a negotiation tool.
If you were to take the approach of fighting the pharmas whilst still treating the patients with latest available drugs then the ground swell of public support I'm sure would be in your favour and the battle would be won quicker.
At the moment the government, NICE and the PCTs are seen as (and are) the immediate problem. There were too many examples on last nights program of unfair and immoral decisions.
Andy
