India is one of the developing countries, not a developed one. Yes, this country has lot of IT professionals, NRIs etc. etc. India has no doubt lot of rich people. And there is nothing wrong in being rich. But it hardly constitutes more that 3 % of the population. Whatever may be the baseline for poverty index, the fact remains is that most of us Indians, and probably people of many developing countries live our lives in mediocre conditions. We can still live a reasonable life unless otherwise hit by some adverse conditions. Cancer is one such adverse condition.
"The Emperor of all Maladies" (the treatise on cancer) by an Indian doctor gives a very detailed perspective on the disease. But I would just summarize it in few words. Cancer is not a new disease. It had been there just like common cold since ancient times. But unfortunately mankind has not been able to make any significant advances on its treatment. Till today there is no known cause for the disease, let alone any real medication. Yes, there are directed therapies available, but only few. But at the end its all God's grace alone, that can save one.
The pharmaceutical industry has not taken much pain in putting much money for research in the field of cancer, because they didn't see any merit and profit in working towards something which anyway doesn't have any hope. The ethical inclinations of pharmaceutical companies is a topic in itself and I will write some other time on that. But for the time being I am just going to highlight one aspect of the whole story.
One of the known causes of a type of breast cancer is caused by the over expression of the her-2-neu gene. And there is a directed therapy/molecule for that called trastuzumab. Until recently there was only one company in the world (Roche) that had created a medicine called Herceptin. This drug was discovered way back in 1992. Today after over 23 years, this is still the only drug for her-2-neu positive breast carcinoma. The medicine is available in India in the name of Herclon. The cost of this medicine is Rs. 75,000 per vial. So the total treatment cost can go upto Rs. 15 to 20 lakhs, i.e. 1.5 to 2 million Indian Rupees. The medical insurance echo system in India is still primitive. Corporate insurance is there, in some companies it has the option of a higher top-up cover, however hardly anyone is ready for a disease like cancer. It just comes and hits you when you are least prepared for it. As a consequence, most of the patients are unable to afford the medication. So they go though repeated courses of generic chemotherapy, which is extremely painful, to deal with recurrences of malignant tumors. I think it is bad business also. Today certainly after 23 years of discovery of herceptin, the cost of R&D and clinical trials must have been recovered long back. However still the medicine is so expensive. But if one sees from a business perspective (let alone the humanity aspect of it), if the price of the medicine is reduced, more and more patients will be able to afford this life saving drug, and the scale of the customer base would become much larger than what it is today. So the revenue that is generated out of herceptin today would increase if the price is reduced.
Biocon has launched recently the counterpart of Herclon in India named Canmab. They claim that it is the same molecule as herceptin, however they have also priced it at Rs. 57,000 per vial. So much for a cheaper solution !! Moreover there is not much clinical data available for Canmab.
So at the end anybody would put his/her entire life's savings to fight cancer, because there is nothing more valuable than the life a beloved, come what may......I am just thinking about people whose monthly incomes are less than Rs. 5000. For them a decent square meal is their herceptin, their life saving drug...
When would these pharma companies wake-up and see their role in a much bigger context in terms of humanity. Business, ethics and humanity can all go together and flourish together.......just give it a try and see......
"The Emperor of all Maladies" (the treatise on cancer) by an Indian doctor gives a very detailed perspective on the disease. But I would just summarize it in few words. Cancer is not a new disease. It had been there just like common cold since ancient times. But unfortunately mankind has not been able to make any significant advances on its treatment. Till today there is no known cause for the disease, let alone any real medication. Yes, there are directed therapies available, but only few. But at the end its all God's grace alone, that can save one.
The pharmaceutical industry has not taken much pain in putting much money for research in the field of cancer, because they didn't see any merit and profit in working towards something which anyway doesn't have any hope. The ethical inclinations of pharmaceutical companies is a topic in itself and I will write some other time on that. But for the time being I am just going to highlight one aspect of the whole story.
One of the known causes of a type of breast cancer is caused by the over expression of the her-2-neu gene. And there is a directed therapy/molecule for that called trastuzumab. Until recently there was only one company in the world (Roche) that had created a medicine called Herceptin. This drug was discovered way back in 1992. Today after over 23 years, this is still the only drug for her-2-neu positive breast carcinoma. The medicine is available in India in the name of Herclon. The cost of this medicine is Rs. 75,000 per vial. So the total treatment cost can go upto Rs. 15 to 20 lakhs, i.e. 1.5 to 2 million Indian Rupees. The medical insurance echo system in India is still primitive. Corporate insurance is there, in some companies it has the option of a higher top-up cover, however hardly anyone is ready for a disease like cancer. It just comes and hits you when you are least prepared for it. As a consequence, most of the patients are unable to afford the medication. So they go though repeated courses of generic chemotherapy, which is extremely painful, to deal with recurrences of malignant tumors. I think it is bad business also. Today certainly after 23 years of discovery of herceptin, the cost of R&D and clinical trials must have been recovered long back. However still the medicine is so expensive. But if one sees from a business perspective (let alone the humanity aspect of it), if the price of the medicine is reduced, more and more patients will be able to afford this life saving drug, and the scale of the customer base would become much larger than what it is today. So the revenue that is generated out of herceptin today would increase if the price is reduced.
Biocon has launched recently the counterpart of Herclon in India named Canmab. They claim that it is the same molecule as herceptin, however they have also priced it at Rs. 57,000 per vial. So much for a cheaper solution !! Moreover there is not much clinical data available for Canmab.
So at the end anybody would put his/her entire life's savings to fight cancer, because there is nothing more valuable than the life a beloved, come what may......I am just thinking about people whose monthly incomes are less than Rs. 5000. For them a decent square meal is their herceptin, their life saving drug...
When would these pharma companies wake-up and see their role in a much bigger context in terms of humanity. Business, ethics and humanity can all go together and flourish together.......just give it a try and see......
