$3,061.75 per month, Expired Patent, No Competition

$3,061.75 per month, Expired Patent, No Competition

As I said before, if the German company Bayer Pharmaceutical could determine another way to extract more money from me and the large employer group health insurance plan that my employer provides me, I was confident they would. They recently increased the price of my medicine again. I can think of no other technology product whose price doesn't decline over time, especially when there is no improvement in it's effectiveness, if only due to economies of scale and process improvements that reduce costs..

I remember when my same medicine cost only $960.00 per month. I was reminded recently when I found a mix disc I made to possibly commence the rest of my life using this medicine -- the one with uncertain effectiveness, uncertain safety, possible unpleasant side effects and if nothing else, the sensation of a self administered bee sting every other day -- I found it in my wife's car's cd player. It was the only cd the car could play, all others just skipped, including brand new discs out of the wrapper.

If our political system needed another exhibit describing its current state of being broken, here it is -- my medicine now costs, $3,061.75 per month while never getting more effective. Big Business is buying the government we get. The medicine's patent expired during 2007. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) doesn't even have a process for approving a generic version of my medicine. Congress never created this needed approval process for medicines like the one I use. Without FDA approval no medicine can be sold in the United States including a generic version of my medicine. Pretty cool huh, if you are the CEO of Bayer Pharmaceutical.

Bayer Pharmaceutical didn't even invent the drug. It was developed at universities around the world, including in the United States.

It's been too long since writing here. Since my last post,

• My wife carried a baby to term -- she amazed me and she is well, thankfully.
• Our healthy son was born.
• Our son added more than 8lbs in the past 12 weeks, he was 7lbs at birth.
• President Obama signed health insurance reform legislation into law.
• My fantastic sister and her cool long-time boyfriend married.
• A lot of people searched for jobs, but too many searched for too few.
• Wages for most (North) Americans in the US did not increase, especially in real terms.
  
• The search for ms cures continued, with possibly a major advance coming from Europe, by studying Chronic Cerebrospinal Venous Insufficiency (CCSVI).
• By almost any measure the National Multiple Sclerosis Society has become even more effective.
• Money spent to wage war in Iraq and Afghanistan has eclipsed $1 Trillion ($1,000,000,000,000.00, that's equal to $186,439.33 for every person living in the state of Wisconsin and a lot of money to me) and I only feel safer because private health insurance companies can no longer discriminate against me and I no longer have to worry about reaching a life time health care money spending limit thanks to President Obama and mostly Democratic members of Congress (and groups like Health Care For America Now, churches, community organizations, many labor unions, like SEIU and many AFL-CIO member unions that together made reforms politically possible.)
• We still need health insurance reform, like Medicare for All
  

Our final 2009 Mix:

SONG, ARTIST, ALBUM

1. Waitin' For A Superman, Iron and Wine, Around The Well
2. Don't Forget Me, Case, Neko, Middle Cyclone
3. Never Had Nobody Like You, Ward, M, Hold Time
4. Belated Promise Ring, Iron and Wine, Around The Well
5. Whole Lotta Losin', Monsters Of Folk, Monsters Of Folk
6. Quiet Dog Bite Hard, Mos Def , The Ecstatic
7. Roses, Mos Def Feat. Georgia Anne Muldrow, The Ecstatic
8. The Palace At 4 am, Newman, Carl 'A.C.', Get Guilty
9. Overjoyed, Circulatory System, Signal Morning
10. Silver Trembling Hands, Flaming Lips, The Embryonic
11. Over It, Dinosaur Jr, Farm
12. Nothing To Hide, Yo La Tengo, Popular Songs
13. Deeper Down, Wilco, Wilco (The Album)
14. 82 Onewasjohnny, Todd, Singles
15. Honey Bee, Zee Avi, Zee Avi
16. Such Great Heights, Iron and Wine, Around The Well
17. Avalon Or Someone Very Similar, Yo La Tengo, Popular Songs
18. While You Wait For The Others, Grizzly Bear, Veckatimest
19. Summertime Clothes, Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion
20. The Right Place, Monsters Of Folk, Monsters Of Folk

Exciting Times

I'm optimistic for results in the effort to pass legislation that causes quality, affordable health insurance for every American. There are so many people working to this end. I am so looking forward to 139 days from today to assess our progress.

Bayer, the company that now owns the patent on Interferon-B, the drug I use, has rolled out a "new" 30 gage needle for the injection. I think my first injections, 7 years ago when the price of 15 injections was only $960 per month, were with a 30 gage needle. Then the last company that owned the drug patent did a reformulation and designed a new system to "ready" the injection -- they sold 15 injections with a larger needle at a cost of about $1300 per month. No one asked for my opinion, but I prefered the $960 per month drug version because I had more control of the injection preparation process (and even though I'm insured, I prefer to not enrich an industry that spends twice as much on advertising than on research to find cures).

Now Bayer, in their brilliant greediness has reduced the number of "monthly" injections to 14, even though they kept the price of the drug, no more effective than when I started using it in 2001, at the private health insurance killing price of only $2360 per month. I'm sure if they can think of another way to squeeze another dollar out my insurance company, they'll figure it out.

Can you believe that their patent expired a couple years ago? And they have no competition?

The hardest walk

You thought I was gonna talk about the Jesus and Mary Chain song here, didn't you? It is one of my favorites by them.

I was thinking about the race for President.

The next President will profoundly affect healthcare for the next 4 years and beyond. Our Federal Government spends like 60% of all healthcare money -- that's powerful.

And its shameful that the Fed isn't doing more to affect healthcare. Our Federal Government should be negotiating with drug companies to lower drug costs with that 60% collective buying power. To protect our Federal Government's resources that are paying for new healthcare facilities, our Federal Government should negotiate with Healthcare companies any time one wants to build new facilities. Our Federal Government should create an FDA pathways to approve generic biological drugs and help remove barriers to new therapies. The Federal Government should allow for the importation of foreign drugs too -- like Europe's generic interferon-B drug.

Federal Government agencies can promote research, even say what research can't be done. Research can find cures, save lifes, save money. We need more research and our Government can promote it.

And the next President will affect who has health insurance, whether it is affordable and who does not.

Senator McCain's health insurance plan will increase my family's taxes by making us pay taxes on the cost of our benefits. My employer will lose the tax deduction for providing employee health insurance. My insurance costs $14,000 per year (a $2,000+ new tax) and McCain's tax credit of $5000 to buy our family's insurance is a joke. No insurance company will sell me any health insurance. If I could somehow get a plan, it will be a government subsidized plan filled with other sick people so the rates will be crazy expensive.

I hope everyone votes. Please vote.

2 miles

I did something today, that I've not done since I was probably 17 years old. Abbey and I ran 2 miles together. She was nice enough to run with me (she runs more regularly and usually farther than 2 miles). Back when I was 17, I was running cross country in high school. I wasn't a very good runner, but I liked getting into good shape for basketball season (I wasn't a great basketball player either, but being 6th or 7th guy off the bench meant I usually scored a few points each game).

The temperature outside today was in the mid 70s. At about the 3/4 mile point, I was aware that the flesh of my right leg, the lower femor area was growing numb. A mile later, both knee areas were numb and my forearms, especially my right forearm was very numb. Abbey helped walk me to our home. Climbing the stairs, my head was spinning.

Fortunately, Abbey turned the shower water on at a room temperature for me. Conditions normalized after about 10 minutes of not-too-warm water runner over me. I ran two miles!

Abbey is always doing things to assist me. Recently, she picked up my meds for me. When I got home, she handed me the box of Interferon-B, noting that the box color changed. She wasn't sure the box contained the same meds I usually got from the pharmacist. I told her, they must have changed the price. I've noticed when the box colors change, the price is usually increased. When I looked at the receipt, yup, the price was increased from $2240 per month to $2369 per month. Same meds, different color box colors, no more effective, just more expensive. I wonder how many other people using biological drugs witnessed the color of their med box change this month? This is at least the second time the box color has changed since the start of the year.

If only Abbey had the power to cause congress to pass a law that created an FDA approval route for generic biological drugs -- the patent on Interferon-B is expired -- she'd do it if she was a member of congress. My parents saw Barack Obama in Green Bay today -- I'm confident that Barack Obama would create an FDA approval route for generic biological drugs.

Lee Rayburn show, 92.1 FM The Mic

I've never appeared on a radio show. Before listening to 92.1 in Madison, I found little use for commercial radio, mostly just listened to cds from referals and live shows, occasionally national public radio for news.

Today, I appeared on the Lee Rayburn radio show at 6:45a. I appear at the last 15 minute portion of the hour. Lee is a good radio host and it was really great that he invited me to join him on air. I'm alway eager to talk about how my InterferonB drugs now cost $2,240, even though they were only $980 per month 6.5 years ago -- worse the patent is expired, but the FDA can't license a generic version because congress and the President haven't empowered the FDA to do so; there is a generic verson in Europe (I hope this angers you as much me, probably equal to how angry you feel every time your health insurance costs incease, your out-of-pocket insurance costs increase).

And I was really happy to announce that people can support research for a cure and programs assisting us, me, all of us living with ms and the people who worry about us by supporting me on the Best Dam Bike Ride this weekend, August 2nd and 3rd, Pewaukee to Whitewater to Madison. (You can give at: http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR?px=2024772&pg=personal&fr_id=7830)