The Senseless Death of Tobeka Daki: Auctioning Health and Life to the Highest Bidders
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/11/17/the-senseless-death-of-tobeka-daki-auctioning-health-and-life-to-the-highest-bidders/
November 17, 2016
The Senseless Death of Tobeka Daki: Auctioning Health and Life to the Highest Bidders
by Fran Quigley
Tobeka Daki died this week. And she shouldnt have.
Tobeka lived in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, and was the mother of two sons. Her youngest son, Khanya, is 11 years old. In 2013, she was diagnosed with a strain of breast cancer known as HER2.
There is a medicine called Trastuzumab, marketed under the name Herceptin, that is very effective at treating Tobekas form of breast cancer. The groundbreaking research that led to the discovery of Herceptin was
funded by U.S. taxpayers. A years dose can be manufactured for
about $176.
But Tobeka was never treated with Herceptin. The corporation that controls the medicine charges about $34,000 in South Africa for a years worth of doses. That cost is five times more than Tobekas income, which is right around the per capita average in her country. But the corporation enjoys a monopoly patent on the drug, which means they can charge whatever they wish, with no fear of a generic alternative being made available.
That company made
$11.6 billion profit in 2015.
Tobeka was enrolled in her countrys medical insurance program. But many physicians in South Africa and other locations dont even tell their patients with HER2 breast cancer about the existence of Herceptin. No point getting their hopes up about a medicine they and their nations health program can never afford.
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https://www.cancer.gov/research/progress/discovery/HER2
http://infojustice.org/archives/33877
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-roche-results-idUSKCN0V60SS