Saturday's SMH had an article about a doctor who spoke out about the high dosages of cancer drugs. Dr Ian Haines said that pharmaceutical companies were the only group capable of affording drug trials, and therefore they had enormous control over the scientific evidence presented that determines dosage rates.In the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the world's foremost cancer journal, he said that new and expensive drugs may be just as effective and produce fewer side effects - if taken over shorter periods and in lower doses. He listed as examples the highly successful (in sales terms) drugs Herceptin, Avastin and Mabthera.
Avastin is commonly dosed at 15mg/kg body weight, but other research shows it equally effective at 3 mg per kilo. Given the enormous cost of these drugs, this is therefore an enormous possible saving to people alreadt threatened with the biggest financial drain of their lives.
The problem is exacerbated by the stone age methods the government uses to collect data on results of usage. Health economist Jeff Richardson told the SMH that Australia was 'absolutely primitive' in its record keeping and that people are dying becasue we are not allowed to use the evidence.
It's all the more sad because with Medicare data we already collect we already have the means to follow though on dosage and outcome, yet the government doesn't allow the data to be used to rein in the big pharmaceutical companies.
In a similar vein, it was also revealed in the weekend Australian that if you are chronically ill and unable to get out of bed, but you have a toothache, you miss out on $4000 worth of free dental care because you have to go TO the dentist and sit in a chair - which of course you can't do because you are chronically ill!..
The Federal goverment's response to this idiocy? 'We can't help it; it's a state matter.'
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