US$280 in China, US$8,892 in the US: new Chinese cancer drug gets FDA approval
www.scmp.com
Following the approval of Toripalimab by the Food and Drug Administration, two more Chinese-made cancer drugs have received approval for distribution in the US.
  • loathsome dongeater@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
    33·
    11 months ago

    FREEEDUM

    The authors [of a study] found that of the 60 drugs they studied – representing one-fifth of all drugs approved in their study time period of 2009 to 2018 – there was no association between estimated research costs and the drugs’ listed price.

    “Drug companies charge what the market will bear,” the researchers said. This is influenced by demand for the drug, whether patients need to continuously take it, and existing market competition.

    When [the Chinese cancer drug] Toripalimab was approved, there was speculation the drug could be priced at a significant discount compared with its main competitor on the US market. This stemmed from pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly promising that the Chinese PD-1 inhibitor they were seeking FDA approval for would come at a 40 per cent discount if approved.

    But during an investor call after Toripalimab received approval, Dennis Lanfear, the chief executive of Coherus, said such a “heavily” reduced price was off the table, according to FiercePharma.

    Keytruda, New Jersey-based Merck & Co’s main counterpart to Toripalimab, is also sold in China and its list price on entering the market was half its price in the US, according to FiercePharma.

  • taiphlosion@lemmygrad.ml
    28·
    11 months ago

    Lmao just reminds me of this video I watched a while back when a Chinese pharmaceutical company had to negotiate the price of their drug with the government and the way the representative was sweating every time the government rep said lower the price had me so weak. Mans had to call his boss several times and then ended up giving the government the price they wanted anyway 💀

        • redtea@lemmygrad.ml
          12·
          11 months ago

          This is enough to make you tear up. Knowing how expensive medicine is in liberal ‘democracies’.

          This is also one of the reasons it’s hard to learn Chinese. You can hear the words but they don’t make sense:

          Capitalist rep, offering a high price: This is the best we can do.

          Chinese official: no

          Rinse and repeat

          Capitalist rep: This is the absolute lowest we can go.

          Chinese official: The price. It sounds like death to me. I think you can shave off four cents.

          Capitalist rep, defeated: okay.

          Incomprehensible to westerners.

          The official knows, too, lol, that the lower the price, the more likely the rep is getting sacked and so might be relying on state medicine without a private parachute. The lower he goes, the greater the incentive to get that price down even lower by both parties. Beautiful.

  • barrbaric [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    15·
    11 months ago

    Isn’t 30x what everyone else pays actually kind of low for drugs? I guess it’s because the base price is already actually kinda high.

  • YourFavoriteFed [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
    15·
    11 months ago

    MFW I unironically might want to look into teaching English in a foreign country just to survive.

    Literally a whole ass country got gentrified into being a giant-ass country club lmao.

    • Tankiedesantski [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
      7·
      11 months ago

      Dont know about your current circumstances but please consider pursuing a teaching qualification first so you aren’t forced to participate in the white-supremacist placebo system of English “teaching” that’s present in many countries, especially Asia.

      Nothing good will come of that system for you or your students.

  • lorty@lemmygrad.ml
    14·
    11 months ago

    It’s just good business. If you commies knew how to do such gooddest deals you would be just as rich and love capitalism.

    • ComradeSalad@lemmygrad.ml
      6·
      11 months ago

      Probably the same, if not more. Plus any visa you get is going to max out at 90 days, meaning you have to leave and reenter China which racks up more expenses.

      • Water Bowl Slime@lemmygrad.ml
        11·
        11 months ago

        Many people already go to Mexico for dental work so I imagine it’s possible to do something similar with China, if your medical bills are high enough.

        • ComradeSalad@lemmygrad.ml
          5·
          11 months ago

          Yeah, but that’s simple border hopping for a day or two to get quick dental work. Cancer treatments take months if not years, and it would be an insane workaround to try and get it to work.

          • Water Bowl Slime@lemmygrad.ml
            6·
            11 months ago

            That’s true. But also this is US healthcare we’re talking about so I’d believe it if flying to China works out to be cheaper for someone lol