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Sunday, November, 29, 2009
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Shedding Light on the Co-morbidities of DiabetesThe Complications of Having Rheumatoid Arthritis and Diabetes

A very expensive antibiotic

Dr. Bill Quick
Dr. Bill Quick
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Physician and Medical Director of DiabetesMonitor.com

Dr. Bill Quick and his wife Steph are the authors of one of the ...

Dr. Bill Quick

Sunday, September 06, 2009
View All of Dr. Bill Quick's Posts
Until last week, I really hadn't heard of the antibiotic Zyvox (linezolid). But when a bug-bite on my left calf got inflamed, and my leg turned red and swollen, my physician recommended it for me to use. According to the label, it seems a good choice for diabetic foot infections: the cure rates in o...
  1. Awesome Post Bill!
    Ann Bartlett
    Sunday, September 06, 2009 at 10:39 AM

    This was a great post!  I hung on every word, because it is the climate we are living in!  

     

    Bill, do you know how much R&D would cost for the development of Zyvox?  When my husband worked for a non profit called Heart Rhythm Foundation, he had a meeting with Sanofi-Adventis.  They told them, the average cost from the lab to getting a drug through the FDA pipeline was between 3-4 Billion $.  And we also have to remember that Pharma invests millions in products that never make it to market. Is there a site that offers this type of info?

     

    While I wholeheartedly agree with your comments, I'm just curious to see how much it costs for a new drug and how soon they re-coop their investment. 

     

    While I was writing The Scoop on Cheap Test Strips, the one thing I was amazed by was the increase in cost from my local Rite Aid.  When I asked the pharmacist why strips were so expensive, she said insurance. Insurance companies pays the pharmacy once a month they have to increase the cost of the strips to cover what is outstanding.  

    The whole system is a mess!

     

     

    Reply
    Lyrica for Neuropathy Major Issue in Settlement
    Jenny Ruhl
    Sunday, September 06, 2009 at 02:42 PM

    The cost to develop drugs is probably overstated and may include a lot of marketing expense. Even if it isn't, the company makes billions out of one years' worth of sales.


    Pfizer was marketing expensive Lyrica off label to people with diabetes for neuropathy, which it does not particularly help. That drug was one involved in the settlement.


    Given the earnings from the off label campaigns over a decade were probably a lot more than $2 billion the drug companies still come out ahead when they indulge in this kind of behavior.

    Reply
    re: Lyrica for Neuropathy Major Issue in Settlement
    frankenduf
    Tuesday, September 08, 2009 at 04:06 PM
    i utterly agree with you- the drug industry spends 3 times more on marketing than R+D- the practical reason our drugs are expensive is that no one is powerful enough to challenge the industry- they essentially wrote the medicare legislation which prohibits the government from bargaining prices down!- no other industrialized country allows this- and the economic power of the industry is staggering- they apparantly can eat a $billion fine for breakfast- the only ones powerful enough to moderate the industry is us- if we demand the Obama administration bargain the prices down (like every other country has always done), then we will get our drugs at canadian prices
    Reply
  2. Untitled Comment
    Chrish Tiyan
    Thursday, September 10, 2009 at 10:21 AM

    I am so conscious on what I eat that's because it nourishes my body. I've been looking a website that can refer me ways for health living. Gladly I found one that contains what I really need about alternative health, neuro feedback, holistic healing, alternative natural healing and dynamic psychotherapy. You guys should visit http://www.createyourhealth.com/wordpress/

    Reply
  3. Zyvox cost
    Rick carroll
    Saturday, September 12, 2009 at 04:18 PM

    I agree medication costs are ridiculous. I went from paying 7 dollars for a bottle of insulin to 91 dollars now.

     

    However a diabetic foot infection can very easily lead to a severe infection and sepsis and cost you your life. Thinking of that, the medicine is priceless.

     

    I wonder how many people complain to conress when their car repair guy charges them dollars for a new transmission on a car they drive for an hour a day 6 days a week. yet when you use your body 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year for 80 years(and usually abuse) do we complain when the fix is expensive?

    Reply
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