Patrick Soon-Shiong is an American success story. Probably by definition anyone who is ranked #77 on the Forbes list of richest Americans would be considered as such. Ever wonder what it is that separates those few who reach that level of achievement from you and I? I mean most of us get up each day, work hard, have some ambition to make something of ourselves. So what is it that can drive someone into that elite group of 100 people with more money than everyone else in the country? Ripping off hospitals is a nice start, but to really make it in the big leagues of American finance, being willing to fleece cancer patients who are afraid of dying is just the kind of thing that will drive you right to the top.
In the mid 90's, Dr. Soon-Shiong made his move into the entrepreneurial class by forming his own company, American Pharmaceutical Partners, to sell generic drugs to hospitals. His move into the business world might have been prompted by a surgical technique he pioneered turning out to be a total flop, but only he would know that for sure. The good doctor thought it might help sales at his company if he gave stock options in American Pharmaceutical Partners to people who were responsible for buying his products, and wouldn't you know, the strategy of giving people who are spending hospitals money, not theirs, a chance to make money for themselves, not the hospitals, by choosing Dr. Soon-Shiong's products worked out pretty well for him. Yes there were people who whined and cried about things like "conflict of interest", but they were probably just jealous communists. You can't stand in the way of capitalism, baby.
You can't stand in the way of capitalism because capitalism improves the lives of us all, by bringing us advances like Abraxane, a new and improved treatment for late-stage breast cancer. By "new" of course, I mean "slightly different and not proven to be any more effective than what's already on the market." Abraxane is a reformulated version of paclitaxel, which has been sold under the brand name Taxol to treat cancers of the lung, ovaries, and breast since 1993. Because Taxol isn't water soluble, it has to be given in a mixture of castor oil and alcohol than can cause severe allergic reactions. To lessen the risk, people are given a steroid and an antihistamine along with the Taxol. Kinda sucks, but beats the hell out of no cancer treatment at all.
The idea, and by idea I mean "hype," behind Abraxane is that by reformulating paclitaxel into a form that makes the steroids and antihistamines unnecessary, you can cut down on side effects and increase efficacy. Dr. Soon-Shiong says of his product
“We have a breakthrough, Look at the data.” OK then, lets look.
- Taxol causes more damage to white blood cells, Abraxane causes more damage to nerves.
- In a trial of 454 late stage breast cancer patients, Abraxane delayed the growth of tumors for 23 weeks in the average patient, compared with 17 weeks for Taxol.
- There was no difference in the amount of time a patient lived in the study, regardless of which med was used. After two years, roughly 75 percent of patients in the study had died, whether they received Abraxane or Taxol.
That's the data Dr. Soon-Shiong says proves his product is a "breakthrough"
To be fair, when he used the word "breakthrough" Dr. Soon-Shiong might not have been talking about the science at all, but rather the price his new company, Abraxis BioScience, is able to get away with charging for Abraxane
$4,200 a dose. Twenty-five times as much as the generic version of Taxol. I shit you not.
Twenty-five times as much for a drug that hasn't been shown to help you live one day longer.
Twenty-five times as much for a drug that a cancer research journal concluded is “old wine in a new bottle.”
Twenty-five times as much when Dr. Michael Hawkins, top medical officer for Abraxis BioScience says “These are just two forms of paclitaxel”
Did you get that last quote? Dr. Hawkins works for the company that makes Abraxane, and he's saying “These are just two forms of paclitaxel”? WTF?
You see, Abraxis BioScience wanted a new indication for Abraxane to use in early stage breast cancer, but they didn't want to do any more studies, so Dr. Hawkins was saying the FDA should just go ahead and approve it since Abraxane is just like Taxol, and Taxol already had the indication.
Got that? When they want to charge you $4,200 instead of $150 it's "a breakthrough." When they want to get out of doing more studies it's "just another form of paclitaxel"
An American success story indeed.
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