Cost of Remission Settled
The stinging pain jolted me awake in the hazy, misty morning of 2023. I had felt this nagging discomfort for weeks, a persistent ache akin to a bad runner's cramp. But today it was unbearable, forcing me to brace against the wall just to stand up.
A few hours later, after arriving at the emergency room, I heard my name called. A doctor led me to a private area, where he delivered the worrying news - a scan had revealed concerning lesions on top of both hip bones, on my sternum, and other areas throughout my body. These symptoms were the hallmarks of multiple myeloma, a devastating blood cancer that eats away at the bones and has no cure.
Subsequent scans showed "innumerable lesions" from my neck to my feet, and two broken ribs and a compression fracture in my spine. As I stumbled out of the ER in hunt of fresh air, I Searched Google for answers. The first link I clicked on painted a grim picture - the average lifespan of a newly diagnosed patient was three to five years. My stomach churned.
Little did I know that the drug once relegated to a pharmaceutical graveyard would be my lifeline. The same drug, a doctor at the hospital informed me, was likely to be part of my treatment - Revlimid, a derivative of thalidomide, a slightly tweaked version of the infamous compound.
Revlimid, now one of the bestselling pharmaceutical products of all time with total sales of over $100 billion, has extended the lives of tens of thousands of patients, including mine. The drug is extraordinarily expensive, with each pill costing nearly $1,000. This steep tab has put the drug's lifesaving potential out of reach for some cancer patients, who have been forced into debt or simply stopped taking the drug. The price also helps fuel our ballooning insurance premiums.
Throughout my journey, I've reported on skyrocketing healthcare costs and the tactics used by drug companies to keep prices high. Even with my experience, the extortionate cost of Revlimid stood out. The very thought of swallowing something that costs as much as a new iPhone left me dumbfounded. A monthly supply, equivalent to the cost of a new Nissan Versa, was a stark reminder of the drug's exorbitant cost and its crippling impact on patients like myself.
I wanted to understand how this drug came to cost so much - and why the price kept going up. I embarked on a mission to uncover the truth, my determination fueled by the tiny, terrifying diagnosis that threatened to steal my life.
This tale begins on a moonlit beach in the Cayman Islands in the winter of 1995. Beth Wolmer and her husband, Ira, were enjoying a rare break from their busy lives as parents and professionals in New York City. But their idyllic vacation was interrupted by a painful sensation in Ira's cheekbone. After returning home, more tests revealed multiple myeloma - a grim prognosis of only two years to live.
Desperate for hope, Beth and Ira sought out Dr. Bart Barlogie, a specialist pushing the boundaries of multiple myeloma treatment. After years of futile efforts and multiple relapses, Ira underwent three transplants. Each time, he relapsed. By the fall of 1997, Ira's thick black hair was gone, he was losing weight, and he suffered a stroke, requiring dialysis.
Beth refused to accept the doctors' fatal prognosis. With a photograph of Ira smiling with their toddler daughter as motivation, she threw herself into a relentless search for a cure. Beth pored over medical journals and peppered oncologists with questions about why their treatments weren't working.
A breakthrough arrived when Beth learned about the work of Dr. Judah Folkman, a surgeon and researcher at Boston Children's Hospital. Folkman believed that the growth of cancerous tumors could be stunted by starving them of a supply of new blood vessels.
In search of a drug toblock the growth of new blood vessels, Folkman's young researcher, Robert D'Amato, began experimenting with a list of ten contenders. At the top of the list was thalidomide, a drug with a harrowing history of causing severe birth defects. D'Amato concluded that thalidomide was the key to blocking blood vessel growth, and in 1994, he published a paper finding "clear implications" for treating tumors.
Today, it seems incredible that a drug once considered a shameful chapter in the history of modern medicine could offer new hope. However, D'Amato's discovery would change the lives of hundreds of thousands of cancer patients, including mine.
Ive learned that the path to Revlimids high price involved exploitation of patent laws, regulatory systems, and even patient assistance programs. The ongoing controversy centers primarily on the drugs affordability and accessibility, with critics arguing that the high prices, driven by aggressive price increases and patent protections rather than costs of innovation, limit patient access and burden healthcare systems. The exclusivity granted by the FDA, intended to encourage development for rare diseases, has been exploited to keep prices high for extended periods without competition.
Regulatory bodies have acknowledged Revlimids benefits, but also highlighted increased secondary cancer risks, adding to the debate over its overall impact. The story of Revlimid is a stark reminder of the complexities surrounding the balance between pharmaceutical innovation incentives and affordable patient access.
- The journalist, recently diagnosed with multiple myeloma, felt a sharp pain that led to a series of scans revealing innumerable lesions and a compression fracture.
- Despite the drug's grim history, Revlimid, a derivative of thalidomide, became a crucial component of the patient's treatment, costing nearly $1,000 per pill.
- The exorbitant cost of Revlimid, equivalent to a new Nissan Versa monthly, has left some cancer patients unable to afford it, forcing them into debt or even stopping treatment.
- During the patient's recovery, they became determined to understand the drug's high cost and embarked on a mission to uncover the truth.
- Tracing the origin of Revlimid, we find a story that began on a moonlit beach in the Cayman Islands in 1995, where a man named Ira was diagnosed with multiple myeloma and was initially given a grim prognosis of only two years to live.
- The path to Revlimid's high price involved exploitation of patent laws, regulatory systems, and even patient assistance programs, leading to ongoing controversy regarding affordability and accessibility.
