Cancer Drugs can top $100,000 per year

[OzarkDem]

Its getting waay out of hand and just impossible for uninsured cancer patients

http://www.suntimes.com/output/health/cst-nws-cost19.html

CANCER DRUG COSTS
AVASTIN (Colorectal cancer): $4,400 per month.

ERBITUX (Colorectal and head-and-neck cancers): $9,800 per month.

HERCEPTIN (Breast cancer): $3,600 per month.

NEXAVAR (Kidney cancer): $4,333 per month.

RITUXAN (Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma): $13,000 to $25,000 per treatment cycle.

TARCEVA (Pancreatic and lung cancers): $2,300 per month.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. Enough coenzyme Q10, Pycnogenol, Holy Basil, a quality

daily multiple vitamin/mineral and glyconutrients to prevent cancer... mebbe 5$ a day.

[pitohui]

6. oh brother let us know how that works out

1 out of 3 americans will develop cancer in their lifetime, this despite being one of the best-fed peoples in history w. the greatest knowledge of herbs and vitamins in history

when it's your friend or family member that is ill, you will want medicine and surgery not mean people tell you to go eat your basil

[HysteryDiagnosis]

9. When it comes to a family member who is ill..... I want them to

consume liberal amounts of glyconutrients, endocrine support supplements and antioxidants with or without traditional treatment... at least by taking the supplements they will not experience the terrible side effects of the chemo or radiation.... and with glyconutrients they will not develop ANY bone marrow toxicity/damage.

[Lethe]

2. good news for prostate cancer victims

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060316/ts_nm/cancer_prostate_dc

Eat more cayenne pepper.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Capsaicin, which makes peppers hot, can cause prostate cancer cells to kill themselves, U.S. and Japanese researchers said on Wednesday.


Capsaicin led 80 percent of human prostate cancer cells growing in mice to commit suicide in a process known as apoptosis, the researchers said.

Prostate cancer tumors in mice fed capsaicin were about one-fifth the size of tumors in untreated mice, they reported in the journal Cancer Research.

"Capsaicin had a profound anti-proliferative effect on human prostate cancer cells in culture," said Dr. Soren Lehmann of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine.

"It also dramatically slowed the development of prostate tumors formed by those human cell lines grown in mouse models."

While it is far easier to cure cancer in mice infected with human tumors than it is in human beings, the findings suggest a possible future treatment. They also may offer a good excuse for men who like spicy food to eat more of it.

Lehmann estimated that the mice ate the human equivalent of 400 milligrams of capsaicin three times a week. That is about the amount found in three to eight fresh habanero peppers, depending on how hot the peppers are.

The capsaicin inhibited the activity of NF-kappa beta, a molecular mechanism that helps lead to apoptosis in many cell types.

Prostate cancer is the most common malignant cancer in U.S. men. It is diagnosed in 232,000 men every year and kills up to 30,000 of them. Worldwide, 221,000 men die every year from prostate cancer.

how do you get a rat to eat that much pepper?

[HysteryDiagnosis]

5. Threaten him with a cat.... I am sure it is an extract that "may" be

contained within a gelcap... and if you do the math, it says, they ate the "human equivalent" which is much much less than three to eight peppers... probably just a few grains of it.

[pitohui]

7. well hell i'll live forever then

i eat way more hot peppers than that

[HysteryDiagnosis]

8. Well..... at least your prostate may become immortal.... but you on

the other hand may still have a checkout date.... as do I regardless of all the supplements I consume.

[cornermouse]

3. I believe its called Pay or Die.

Not joking either.

[OzarkDem]

11. Some docs are turning people away

telling them to pay cash or no treatment

[Warpy]

4. GOP health plan: Don't get sick

Big Pill's health plan: scrimp and save all your life so we can take it away from you within a year or so if you get sick.

Big Insurance's health plan: Chronic illness? Don't look at us!

Corporate health plan: Not an executive? Well, then it's your problem to pay for it.

Congress's health plan: We've got ours, so screw you.

[lanah]

10. I wonder

If they had a cure for cancer, or say knew what was causing it or how to prevent it....would the pharma companies tell us? I know it sounds cynical, but unbridled greed is the real cancer in this country. How do we know they really care about their patients(and those prices they are trying to cause heart attacks) or could it all be about profit?

[OzarkDem]

12. The doctors would

Most oncologists don't like seeing their patients die. Most of them are also researchers in addition to clinicians and they know all the research inside out.

Such talk is incredibly dangerous and irresponsible. It preys on vulnerable people encouraging them not to trust their doctors. They always die when that happens. Always.

[donco6]

15. I was cured of cancer.

Intermediate grade non-Hodgkins lymphoma. I had CHOP therapy through Kaiser. My doctor was great.

The "cure for cancer" idea is a misnomer, as there are many different types of what we call "cancer." Some already are *relatively* curable; others are a long way from it (pancreatic being one of the worst.)

[OneBlueSky]

13. which is why, despite our advanced technology, we have failed . . .

to find a cure for cancer . . .

there's no money in curing diseases, only in treating them . . .

[OzarkDem]

14. Actually that's not accurate

Most of the basic research necessary to discover the nature of disease and how to stop or control it is done with federal funding through research institutions, and not conducted by drug companies. Its only after discoveries are made at that level that pharma companies develop the drugs.

Cancer is an incredibly complex set of diseases. Some forms of cancer are now being very successfully treated, like childhood leukemias. Others are much more difficult and complex. Its very expensive and time consuming to do this research and efforts are hampered more by lack of federal funding for basic research.

No one is making a profit by not curing cancer. But it is sad to see pharma companies charging such high prices when so much of the money they make is spent on advertising, not research.