You just gotta love Big Pharma: "A Scanner Darkly" was spot on

[Tsiyu]

The big Pill Mills spew and projectile vomit pills in the US resulting in $24 billion in sales of addictive painkillers.

Thanks to their greedy marketing, the economic toll in the US (where 99% of hydrocodone use occurs) is upwards of $55 billion, most of which is due to lost productivity.

How do the engorged hoarders in the pharmaceutical industry pay back the public for the harm caused by their addictive products and their avarice?

They have a new implant to help beat addiction.

They expect it to be priced comparably to other addiction treatment which costs around $1,000 to $1,500 a month.

Thanks, Big Pharma. You know how to kick a nation of hurting people when you've knocked them down, and make a tidy sum doing both.

It's a disgrace.


http://www.cnbc.com/2016/05/26/fda-approves-first-ever-implant-for-opioid-addiction-treatment.html

Users of Probuphine will have its four small stick-like implants inserted in their upper arm during a doctor's visit lasting less than 15 minutes. The implant remains in the arm for six months before it is removed by a doctor.

Braeburn Pharmaceuticals reportedly has said it plans on pricing Probuphine competitively with other drugs that sell for around $1,000 and $1,500 per month, which is much more expensive than oral forms of buprenorphine.

"We have not announced specific pricing for Probuphine and will not do so until after the treatment is FDA approved," Braeburn CEO Behshad Sheldon said before Thursday's decision. "But, we can confirm that we will be priced lower than other long-acting medications currently on the market."

Sheldon also said that to ensure equal access to Probuphine for all patients, Braeburn will implement two initiatives.

One would be a exploring a rebate program for insurers, which "would mean that if the overall cost of care for a group of patients taking Probuphine exceeds the cost of treatment for the same patients in a prior six-month period, or a comparable group of patients taking other forms of buprenorphine (or other available opioid addiction medication) for a six-month period, Braeburn will give them a rebate for the difference," she said.

Well, they claim they will also will help the lowest income patients, but talk about your self-serving, fuck-'em-both-ways industries.

Create a problem, and then profit off the misery you've created.

The conservative's and libertarian's frickin wet dream, and Debbie "SuzieQPharmassSniffer" Wasserman Schultz is all for it, too.

But don't use cannabis.

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. The drug was approved for people who are already on buprenorphine

buprenorphine is for opioids, including heroin.
I don't visualize many heroin users having insurance for this drug, not wanting to use it, since there are cheaper ways to use
buprenorphine now.
and people who are already on buprenorphine have no real reason to switch current methods if it is more expensive.