A pharmaceutical company is blocking a cheap, effective treatment for macular degeneration because it wants to repackage the treatment at 100 times the cost. That’s some expensive packaging. (Hat tip.)
« Being official
» Can’t happen here
« Being official
» Can’t happen here
» Can’t happen here
Go blind: We want money
06.19.06 | 2 Comments
2 Comments
« Being official
» Can’t happen here
argh. and *we’re* going to end up paying for it. people who get macular degeneration in the US are on medicare. my great-grandmother was one of the individuals who received this treatment in the experimental stage, and it completely reversed her sight loss with no pain, no surgery, etc. she had been to the point where she couldn’t even read large print books anymore. it’s just so so so so wrong.
My mother has glaucoma, and her mother has macular degeneration – both hereditary diseases. Having perfect vision, I’d never bothered to get my eyes checked – until I decided to utilize my vision insurance 2 weeks ago. It was like science fiction to me (lights, and lasers, and lenses, oh my!), but I learned some important facts about my optic nerves (assymetrically cupped), did a follow-up test (visual field acuity test which is a mindfuck all it’s own), and learned I wasn’t going blind any time soon.
At least now they have a baseline for me, and with a re-test every year I can track my progression and prevent wickedly bad degeneration from both of these diseases, since I am so damn responsible (pause to look away from the computer monitor to refocus). That’s what I thought, anyway. Now I’m thinking that Nova Scotia or Prince Edward Island sound nice…