Star Editorial (August 06, 2007 Edition 2)
What price the milk of human kindness? That's a question we can ask in the wake of a study that challenges claims by medical aid schemes that highly effective biological drugs are too expensive to provide.
Biologics are target-specific treatments - such as the breast cancer drug Herceptin - that attack particular cells, cannot be manufactured and are grown from living organisms.
The Biologics Working Group (BWG), which falls under the Pharmaceutical Industry Association of South Africa, states that the average real cost of biologics per beneficiary per month is no more than R2,94. The figure is based on an average medical aid contribution of R700.
BWG economic adviser Tienie Stander, an honorary professor at the University of the North West's Pharmacy School, said his findings proved that biologics could "cross frontiers" in providing hope for cancer patients living under a medical death sentence.
He said the drugs could slow down the progression of several forms of cancer and, in some cases, stop the growth completely.
Stander said that, in healthcare, medical schemes act like short-term insurers.
"The argument is flawed to say that biologics are too expensive. That's why I belong to a scheme - it's the principle of insurance."
Stander said his research showed biologics were cost-effective from a medical scheme perspective as well as when viewed from the "productivity gains of a healthy society".
The medical aid industry, however, maintains that the treatments are too expensive.
That doesn't help change the image many people have of the industry as heartless and money-grubbing.
Surely, there aren't that many people needing the treatments? Surely it's better to make a bit less money and offer more people the chance to live?
Biologics are target-specific treatments - such as the breast cancer drug Herceptin - that attack particular cells, cannot be manufactured and are grown from living organisms.
The Biologics Working Group (BWG), which falls under the Pharmaceutical Industry Association of South Africa, states that the average real cost of biologics per beneficiary per month is no more than R2,94. The figure is based on an average medical aid contribution of R700.
BWG economic adviser Tienie Stander, an honorary professor at the University of the North West's Pharmacy School, said his findings proved that biologics could "cross frontiers" in providing hope for cancer patients living under a medical death sentence.
He said the drugs could slow down the progression of several forms of cancer and, in some cases, stop the growth completely.
Stander said that, in healthcare, medical schemes act like short-term insurers.
"The argument is flawed to say that biologics are too expensive. That's why I belong to a scheme - it's the principle of insurance."
Stander said his research showed biologics were cost-effective from a medical scheme perspective as well as when viewed from the "productivity gains of a healthy society".
The medical aid industry, however, maintains that the treatments are too expensive.
That doesn't help change the image many people have of the industry as heartless and money-grubbing.
Surely, there aren't that many people needing the treatments? Surely it's better to make a bit less money and offer more people the chance to live?
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1 comments:
I desparately need to find a solution to precribing Revelex for my son who has Crohn's Disease. Discovery are saying they will not cover this cost, which is high by comparison to other medications. BUT what alternatives are there?
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