Join The Fight Against High Drug Prices
Revlimid. A miracle drug for many of us with myeloma. I took it for more than five years.
Of course, Revlimid is lenalidomide — a version of the old drug, thalidomide, from the 1950s. And we all know from the nurses reading the list of risks to us on the phone and from the Celgene survey every month that Revlimid causes birth defects and we must be very careful. We also all know Revlimid is incredibly expensive.
What you may not know is that Celgene has been ripping us off. It has been abusing our patent laws and regulatory system to prevent a generic from coming to market that would have dramatically lowered the price of lenalidomide. It refused to make available samples of the drug to generic manufacturers so they can develop a cheaper pharma equivalent. Celgene claims the drug is too dangerous to give to generic makers, even though thousands of us take it safely in our homes daily (21 days on/7 days off.) The Food and Drug Administration told Celgene it should release the samples. The Federal Trade Commission filed a brief in a lawsuit to get the samples and called Celgene’s behavior “anticompetitive.” But Celgene resisted. Then Celgene struck a deal to keep a generic off the market until 2022. And this is just one of the abusive tactics Celgene has used to keep us from having a cheaper version of lenalidomide — and thalomid as well.
How does this affect us as myeloma patients? We pay. During the time I took Revlimid the price went from about $8,000 for a four-week supply to $10,691. My employer — struggling to pay the price — raised my co-payment from $42 to $250. It is also the most expensive drug for people on Medicare Part D; the median annual out-of-pocket is $11,500. The median income for people on Medicare is $26,200. But Celgene paid its CEO almost $100 million over a recent three-year period. They are just taking the money from us and giving it to him. It’s wrong.
So I am fighting back. I am co-founder and President of Patients For Affordable Drugs. Acting on my own as an individual, I have joined a class action lawsuit to pressure Celgene and make it pay for this behavior that hurts so many people. I don’t want any money for myself. If we win, I will donate any money I receive to help other patients.
You can help by sharing your story. Just email me: davidemitchell278@gmail.com. Together we can fight cancer and high drug prices and win.
