[ExI] Jaw-dropping CWRU Alzheimer's breakthrough?

[spike]

In my studies, I keep bumping into memes like this one, which make me
squirm:

Additionally, off-label use raises questions of fairness. Insurance
companies do not usually cover off-label use of a drug, which means the
patient will have to pay for the cost out-of-pocket.  This can be
prohibitively expensive. For example, the WSJ report on the drug approved to
treat MS and may relieve ALS symptoms is called Gilenya and costs around
$52,365 per year. Therefore, only those who can afford the hefty price tag
are able to try Gilenya off-label, while poorer patients, or those that do
not have an extra $50,000 available, do not have the option of using Gilenya
for off-label use.

http://blogs.tiu.edu/bioethics/2012/02/20/clinical-trials-or-off-label-use/

 

 

This notion can be extended to the kinds of advances we transhumanists might
expect.  We may find technological advances which allow superior
performance, such as steroids for instance.  Are we then expected to eschew
these advances because every yahoo cannot afford it?  What if we find out
that bexarotene really does cure Alzheimer's?   What if we are then told we
cannot have it because every Alzheimer's patient cannot afford it?  Wouldn't
be fair you know.  

 

Sooner or later, it will occur to the population that if bexarotene helps
Alzheimer's patients, perhaps it will also help those who do not have
Alzheimer's but whose youth occurred tragically many years ago, and these
have sufficient funds to finance the meds themselves.  Why not?  Do we need
to hold up every medication until some magic single payer comes along,
willing to buy every medication for everyone?  In the meantime are we
expected to do without?

 

Bexarotene is a great test case.  It is expensive, but not THAT expensive,
and waaay cheaper than institutional care.  It is a good example of a
medication which some people will be able to afford easily, others will be
able to afford with some discipline, and for some it will be as far out of
reach as the moon.

 

Do we have medical ethicists among us who can offer guidance?  What is money
for?  Why should we work and save if we are not allowed to use our money any
way we please?  Are we to eschew cryonics because everyone cannot afford it?

 

spike

 

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