One might wonder why they aren’t decrying this one.
And I’ll stipulate that I’m not particularly well-read on the subject, but it’s always been my sense that the “litany of complaints against the FDA from Republicans” tends to be more directed toward FDA activities that have the effect of restraining, rather than facilitating, pharmaceutical companies’ opportunities to squeeze humongous profits out of the end users of their products.* I’ll gladly and gratefully read any cites that can dispel this sense, if it is in fact, incorrect.
*I’m having difficulty with articulating precisely what I mean right at the moment, and I hope you will bear with me. If a more felicitous (and clear) phrasing suggests itself to me at a later time, I’ll revisit this post and amend it.
Seriously, must this turn into Repubs vs Dems mudslinging? I fail to see how this is a political issue at all.
What can the average Jane do about this? Probably nothing. But I don’t see insurance companies putting up with this for very long. And they’re going to have some influence. I hope, anyway.
Oh and FYI, the other real issue is that progesterone injections hurt like hell. I used them during the beginning of my pregnancy for several weeks to help prevent miscarriage.
OUCH! Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.
The real issue for the FDA should be to find a better delivery mechanism for the medication in question. The needle used is very long. If you don’t find the right spot, the progesterone can pool out, bleed and cause you to have to do it again.
Upon reflection, I do fail to understand why the FDA jumped into to issue exclusive rights to KV when the compounding pharmacies were already producing it safely and economically. What was the POINT?
This is just progesterone, right? A substance that is produced naturally by the human body? How can they even patent that? Does the patent actually cover a specific process for synthesizing the compound and not the hormone itself?
One suspects that in addition to safety and economicalness*, the people who considered the issue and made the decision were persuaded that STANDARDIZATION was a worthwhile quality to pursue.
One also suspects that they did it because a properly formatted request to do so was submitted to them.
*or possibly “in addition to safety, and instead of economicalness” :dubious:
How 'bout we debate which party is responsible over in GD and get back to the hate for KV.
Is there any recourse here? What would it take to embarrass someone enough to stand up take these fuckers to task?
Mmm. Then I expect Boehner and all will be along any moment to stand with the two Democrats looking into this particularly abusive use of the already anti-market artificial monopoly policy promoted by the FDA.
I’ll set my watch. You tell me when they decide to say something.
I mean this is an easy, populist move for the lot of them. What constituent wouldn’t applaud putting a stop to this? This as egregious as they come.
(Ok, maybe a KV Pharmaceutical employee or stockholder wouldn’t be happy to see this stopped but willing to bet they are a distinct minority on this one.)
You know what’s sad? KV Pharma could have increased the price to ten times its original cost if they wanted. Still outrageous and KV gets to rake in around $150 in profit per transaction for their “trouble.” All that would have happened would be some general mumblings from certain segments of the internet, but no real traction on change.
But they didn’t want 10x the profit. They wanted 100x. And I think (hope) it’ll be their downfall.
I can only guess this highlights how fucked up the American health care system is overall. This only makes sense if the company figures, “Insurance will pay for it, the public won’t give a fuck, hospitals and insurance will just pass along the cost and no one will notice.”
Reminds me of the $1,500 toilet seats (or hammers or whatever they were) the military was buying back in the day.
I agree completely. But the post I responded to took those same set of facts and blamed the Republicans.
If anyone’s to be blamed, it would be the Democrats, since the people that directly made the decision work for Democrats and the people that can overrule the decision are Democrats.
I agree it’s not a partisan decision, and I certainly wouldn’t have thought to blame Democrats. But in the face of the even more ludicrous claim that Republicans are to blame, you bet your bippie I’ll point out that if any particular party’s actors are to blame, it’s NOT the Republicans.
The House has a zillion things on its agenda. How about we look to the people that have direct, actual, personal responsibilty over the people that did this?
Barack H. Obama
Kathleen Sibelius
Dr. Margaret Hamburg
Why don’t you set your watch for THEM to act?? They’re the ones that could, with a stroke of the pen, fix this.
Okay, this is a douchey move by the FDA and a douchier move by KV, but the people blaming the Republicans are just nuts, unless this actually happened during Bush’s watch.
