Comment by spondylosaurus | Hacker News Reader

Comment by spondylosaurus | Hacker News Reader

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> trigger the patient to develop an immune response after a long prescription period

My doctor put me on low-dose MTX for this exact reason—here's hoping I never start to develop infliximab antibodies...

Regarding the price, I would also have to assume they're comparing generic v generic (even though generic adalimumab wasn't available in the US until this year!), so I wonder if the reason they're saying infliximab is more expensive is because of the associated nursing labor/infusion clinic/IV supply costs. I only paid five bucks for my meds at the last infusion, but had to pay $160 for them to infuse it in me!

Also, side note, the fact that a name-brand Humira pen "only" cost the NHS £400 in the UK (and likely cost even less for patients) is blowing my mind. They retail for about $3500 a pop here :(

It costs nothing in the UK as it's covered under the National Health Service. Well - I say "nothing". All British citizens pay "national insurance", but it's effectively a regressive tax that's not based on the individual's health (as insurance would be), so some folks are effectively subsidising others. To give you an idea of cost, my NI contributions are about ~5.5% of my salary, but that also goes towards the state pension.

All that said, it's not a massive cheap free-for-all on medication - in the UK we've still got hospital/NHS trust budgets which have been iteratively slashed by a decade of successively worse Conservative governments, so generally the inclination is for the NHS to prescribe the (much) cheaper generics.

US health insurance is not based on patients health, either.

There's also a prescription charge, so it's not completely free.

The pricing on Humira in the US feels like a scam, although I'm not totally clear on who--the insurance companies? My insurance covers some % of the astronomical price, I put the rest on a credit card, and AbbVie deposits that money right back into my bank account, minus $5. After about two or three iterations of this, my out-of-pocket maximum has been reached for the year, and I've paid $10-15, minus credit card cash back. I guess having Crohn's has an upside.

The U.S. essentially subsidizes drug development for the rest of the world. It’s f’d up.

What's extra crazy is that Humira in particular was (partly) discovered thanks to British tax dollars. But you're not at all wrong!

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