(Don't) Mind the Gap: Manufacutring Costs and Drug Prices
Misleading statements and conclusions regarding drug costs and prices are again being thrown around. It started with a post right here on Scientific American Blogs with the title “The Quest: $84,000 Miracle Cure Costs Less Than $150 to Make”.
The Quest: $84,000 Miracle Cure Costs Less Than $150 to Make
What are the likely manufacturing costs for sofosbuvir (Brand name: Sovaldi), the newly approved miracle drug that cures hepatitis C at a cost of $84,000 for the full 12-week course of treatment?
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A medication designed to inhibit measleslike virus in infected ferrets shows promise
Hepatitis C Drugs Not Reaching the Poor
Treatment guidelines for the virus highlight the challenges of paying for expensive drugs in low-income countries
Hunger Gains: A New Idea of Why Eating Less Increases Life Span
Researchers propose a new evolutionary reason for why many underfed lab animals live longer
Flu Drug Stockpiling Reported to Be a Waste of Money
A medical panel now suggests that bulk purchasing of the influenza drug Tamiflu, on which the U.S. has spent $1.5B, was a waste of money
AWOL Microbes May Explain Our Modern Plagues [Excerpt]
Antibiotics have endangered our native microbiomes and left us increasingly vulnerable to modern diseases like obesity, diabetes, asthma and autism
Toxins in Nutrition Supplements Still Escape FDA Oversight
When young and middle-aged adults started showing up at the hospital with liver failure last spring, doctors in Hawaii struggled to find the thread that connected the patients.
Drugs from a Sloth's Back
Researchers find potential cures on the backs of sloths
A Simple Way to Slash Unnecessary Drug Prescriptions
A new approach may help curb unnecessary prescriptions
Could RNA Drugs Defeat Ebola Virus?
An RNA-based treatment may stop the Ebola virus in its tracks
MicroRNA May Block All Strains of Hepatitis C
Targeting a microRNA in liver cells could disable a silent killer