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Meds, Mind, Body & Benefits => Questions About Treatment & Side Effects => Topic started by: UKStudent on March 23, 2007, 07:58:02 am

Title: Cost Questions
Post by: UKStudent on March 23, 2007, 07:58:02 am

I am currently a Chemistry Undergraduate in the UK, and we have been giving a group project to go through the motions of creating our own drug. It is a NNRTI drug. We now need to come up with a marketing campaign/strategy however i am struggling to find prices for the current drugs available, so as to compare to our theoretical drug.

We are focussing on three drugs:

Nevirapine, which has the trade name Viramune.
Delavirdine, which has the trade name Rescriptor.
Efavirenz, which has the trade names Sustiva and Stocrin.

If anybody here has any idea as to a general cost to the consumer for these drugs i would be very grateful as currently i am a little lost and not entirely sure where to find this information.

Title: Re: Cost Questions
Post by: J.R.E. on March 23, 2007, 08:05:40 am

Hello,

I am not sure how current this link is. If anything the meds listed have more then likely increased in cost.


http://aids.about.com/od/hivmedicationfactsheets/a/drugcost.htm

I am on Viramune, Epzicom ( epivir and Ziagen) and Viread


Without insurance my cost per month would be the following


Viramune-  (nevirapine)------$493.99---per month

Epzicom---------$893.09---per month


Viread-----------$559.99---per month


The prices I just listed above are current.



Ray

Title: Re: Cost Questions
Post by: newt on March 23, 2007, 08:15:00 am

A Google search on sommat like "Buy Sustiva" will give you loads of online pharmacy prices (US and Canadian). It is of course a funny market cos it's insurance driven. However, I am sure many people here will testify to the pain of co-pays/losing insurance/being on a waiting list for State funded treatment in the richest country in the world. The BHIVA website (http://www.bhiva.org) has a table in the 2005 HIV treatment guidelines giving comparative pricing for the NHS.  Rescriptor is generally out of use (in Europe). Two World CAB reports on drug pricing (here (http://www.i-base.info/wcab/jan05/index.html) and here (http://www.i-base.info/wcab/feb04/index.html)) will give you a perspective on pricing and access. Stocrin is of course a generic formulation and therefore cheaper. The MSF meds access website (http://www.accessmed-msf.org/) has the Untangling the Web report (http://www.accessmed-msf.org/prod/publications.asp?scntid=12120071627123&contenttype=PARA&) which unravels international drug pricing in relation to developed v developing countries. Plus loads of news there, generally about how protectionist the pharma cos are or aren't. The chemistry is one thing, the ethics is another eh?

- matt

Title: Re: Cost Questions
Post by: UKStudent on March 23, 2007, 08:20:50 am

Well yes the chemistry was the easy bit costing setting up a research lab wasn't so easy, of course being the idealistic students we of course plan to have a small profit margin, but that as you said is not good business practice fortunately this isnt real business, so i fortunately do not have the guilt of being a Managing director of a company with a lovely large pay packet, with the "guilt" of knowing people can and are dieing because the products he produces are so ridiculously expensive.


Also thank you for the amazingly fast responce it has been extremely helpful.