Can't you afford it? Obama is having a headache!

Source: Biovalley, August 27, 2015, drug price is a major problem restricting people's living standards In China, the core of many years of medical reform is how to let patients use cheap and reassuring drugs However, up to now, this problem has not been completely solved No wonder some people have expressed their feelings that they cannot afford to be ill However, this problem is not "Chinese characteristics" Recently, President Barack Obama is also worried about this issue As we all know, since the birth of Gilead's sovaldi, hepatitis C is no longer an incurable disease in clinical practice However, in some states of the United States, such as Illinois, many low-income people who participate in health insurance are facing high drug use barriers For example, doctors can only prescribe sovaldi for patients who are diagnosed with severe liver disease In addition, there are many restrictions restricting the use of these new hepatitis C drugs For example, some states require patients with liver disease not to use these new hepatitis C drugs within 12 months of treatment for alcohol or drug abuse Now, this issue has been highly concerned by the White House Recently, the U.S public health agency, the Centers for Disease Control and prevention, and the White House's HIV / AIDS Advisory Committee have expressed high concern about this issue However, since the relevant policies are formulated by the state governments, whether the attention of relevant departments can play a role is still unknown Previously, in the guidelines for the use of drugs prepared by the American Society of infectious diseases and the American Society for the study of liver diseases, it was clearly suggested that patients with hepatitis C should be treated with new drugs such as sovaldi, unless the life span of patients has not exceeded one year Some analysts pointed out sharply that the biggest reason for these "discrimination" of health care in some states of the United States is the economic reason It is well known that at the time of sovaldi's launch, the price of each drug reached US $1000, and patients would have to pay US $84000 to complete the 12 week treatment The follow-up cocktail therapy, harvoni, is more expensive However, Dr David L Thomas, from Johns Hopkins University, believes that early detection and treatment is the right choice for hepatitis C once liver cirrhosis develops, liver transplantation will be more expensive However, it is also acknowledged that the new hepatitis C drugs are still too expensive Although with the IPO of iberville's viekira Pak, the competition caused Gilead to lower its price, the average cost per patient remained around $50000 This is undoubtedly a huge burden for some state governments and low-income people.