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The cost of Diabetes on the NHS

B

Brit90

Well-Known Member
Messages
91
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Other
I know everyone wants to cut back on everything, until we are forced into private health care but...

If certain medicines cost the government a lot of money, why don't they just make their own?
We all know Big Pharma makes Billions a year in profits (yes profits not expenditure) and of course the government pays their bills to them, but for things that are essential for life - eg Insulin, the patents should be broken or at least our government should be making a cheaper copy of it and issuing it themselves.
Whatever happens, the government is billed Billions for medicine (http://www.diabetes.co.uk/cost-of-diabetes.html)

If something costs so much - make it yourself - the government doesn't have to make a profit, just not as much loss.

Many countries around the world have broken Patents because Big Pharma charges the government too much to help people with their medicines. At least these countries are looking out for their citizens.
 
Um, intellectual property law?

Drugs can cost millions to develop. You take away the IP rights and the profits, there is no incentive for big pharma to invest in R&D and governments do not have the money to do that, especially if they will be making drugs and giving them away for free which will involve production costs.
 

Actually it doesn't affect them much at all. Big Pharma make Billions because they overcharge for their pharmaceuticals. All the countries that broke patents for the sake of their own people, still get the same drugs we do, but they pay 10th of the price.
Stop thinking that life is a business, life is life, and if Money is more important that life, then you have priorities wrong.


Lantus - http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sanofi-profit-hit-by-falling-diabetes-revenue-2016-02-09-34851549
Just lost Patent... but still make huges profits.
 
Yep. I'm all about the . Unfortunately, getting my priorities in order is going to make absolutely no difference to the complex system of global laws and markets, which you are suggesting wholesale changes to, because I have no power. But good luck with that. Maybe write a letter to your MP or something.
 
Patents? Typically £1billion to get a drug to market with less than 5% getting through a stage 3 trial and to market. Imagine the people, infrastructure, capital and R&D costs.... Not the job or risk burden of government me thinks


Diagnosed 13/4/16: T2, no meds, HbA1c 53, FBG 12.6, Trigs 3.6, HDL .75, LDL 4.0, BP 169/95, 13st 8lbs, waist 34" (2012 - 17st 7lbs, w 42").

6/6/16: FBG AV 4.6, Trigs 1.5, HDL 2.0, LDL 3.0, BP 112/68, BPM 66, 11st 11lbs, waist 30".

Regime: 20g LCHF, run 1 mile daily, weekly fasting.
 


I am talking about Insulin - not some virus fighting drug (tamiflu waste of space) - which is enormously complex compared to cloning insulin. Which has been around decades. The only reason it is "reinvented" is to make the patent last longer.
Insulin is OLD - it's also found in nature.
For some reason people seem to forget we are replacing something that is already made by every living animal.
Please read the link above about Lantus and their patent. Still making millions profit - not turn over, not loss.
But keeping people sick is healthy business right?
Why make things that last forever, when you only need to keep it alive.
 
Well I'm grateful I don't have to kill a dog & squeeze it's pancreas to get my insulin. Improvements in the development of insulin are happening - have a search for people's experiences of Tresiba.

You make a powerful argument. I think it might be over simplified.
 

I'm definitively open your ideological position which as Catapillar are has stated is "powerful", having run very large public company and Private equity businesses for 30+ years, I can't easily see how to make it happen via government burden


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The really scary part is the recent development of billionaires and speculators buying drug patents and then hiking up the price. Apparently some charmers are now doing it in the Indian drug market.
 
Indy51 said:
The really scary part is the recent development of billionaires and speculators buying drug patents and then hiking up the price. Apparently some charmers are now doing it in the Indian drug market.
Click to expand...

Quite ironic then, as Indian is one of the leaders in patent breaking.
 
In January 2016, I turned down my consultant's offer to change from Humalin I, which has suited me fine for nearly 20 years, taking 2 injections in each 24 hours, to Toujeo, which is far more expensive and only available in disposable pens. He seemed amazed that anyone would care about cost to NHS and environment. He asked me why I was bothered as I wasn't paying and said he'd never had anyone include environmental concerns in their decision about insulin. I did say I was open to reviewing my decision if Toujeo became available in cartridges in reusuable pens and if the price to NHS dropped.
 
Indy51 said:
The really scary part is the recent development of billionaires and speculators buying drug patents and then hiking up the price. Apparently some charmers are now doing it in the Indian drug market.
Click to expand...
Every time I read about another incidence of pharmaceutical patent trolling (see Martin Shkreli) I feel a little more sick than the last time.
 
Let's not forget that much medical research goes on in universities and funding comes from both private and public funds. Pharmaceutical companies don't have the monopoly on research.


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RuthW said:
Let's not forget that much medical research goes on in universities and funding comes from both private and public funds. Pharmaceutical companies don't have the monopoly on research.

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Click to expand...


A lot of funding is by EU grants.
 
copepod said:
He asked me why I was bothered as I wasn't paying
Click to expand...

Think we all pay with our NI contributions.

The NHS love to throw money away for some reason. I personally have my routine bloods duplicated at my clinic and local practice. I've told them twice that there is no need for this yet they say that they "prefer it this way".

Grant
 

I'm not sure if this is still how it works, but GP surgeries used to get basically a fee for the number of type 1s on their books who they did all the tests for, if that doesn't include all the tests, blood test, foot check etc, then the GP surgery doesn't receive the payment.

I mean it's not throwing money away so much as stirring it around from one NHS pot to another, it'll still go into the GP fund to be used for patient care - I'm sure the cost of acually performing the blood tests is negligible.

Edit: apart from to your arm
 
Last edited by a moderator:
SunnyExpat said:
A lot of funding is by EU grants.
Click to expand...

Indeed...I have a friend, a gestational T1 leading researcher at Cambridge Uni who has already been told by funding bodies not to expect further funding. He's terribly worried


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