Cancer Vaccine Developed -- And Ignored

by glenster 16 Replies latest social current

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  BurnTheShips

  The medical insurance people will lose BILLIONS if fewer people get these cancers and no longer need to buy the drugs.

  I fail to see how the health insurance industry would lose out due to lower claims from these cancers.

  Regarding the article:

  It isn't accurate in its description. Gardasil and Cervarix are not human cancer vaccines, they are viral vaccines (for viruses that can cause cancer, but are not themselves cancer).

  There is only one cancer vaccine on the US market: Dendreon's Provenge. And even then, it is debatable as to whether or not it fits the classical definition for vaccine. It is not an injectable product: leukocytes are extracted from the bloodstream, then taken to a lab where they are grown in culture and functionalized to attack prostate cancer cells.

  This is a very labor intensive, expensive process if compared with an injectable. Since the therapy is so recent, it also needs to recoup research and development costs, so it runs over $90k for a course of treatment. It was approved earlier this year, and I think the benefit is very marginal.

  It is, however, a first in class therapeutic.

  If we exclude Provenge, there are no cancer vaccines on the US market.

  Real cancer vaccines are in clinical trials for FDA approval, and I suspect the earliest approved ones will be using DNA plasmid technology. DNA vaccines will be for both prophylactic and therapeutic uses.

  BTS
• 

  DanaBug

  Not health insurance companies, drug companies.

  Are parents now doing a similar thing by ignoring this important development?

  Y'all remember when this vaccine first came out and they were recommending all middle school girls get it, before they become sexually active? Parents were opposed because it would encourage them to have sex. HPV is the most common sti, condoms don't protect you from HPV, and most people that have it don't even know it because there are no outward signs. My daughter will get the vaccine when she's old enough.
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  james_woods

  Oddly enough during the govonor's campaign here in Texas the Democratic candidate used Perry's (R) wanting to require girls to get this vaccine as part of an attack ad.

  It was presented as a self-serving sellout to the Drug Companies. This was done by a candidate who was under a dark cloud of suspicion for kickbacks from construction companies connected to public projects. Let's face the facts: If this works, it would be a great benefit to society. I went to primary school in the 1950s, and everybody was scared of Polio for several years until the vaccine was available. Yes, there were initial side effects in a few cases, and a lot of protesting about it being made mandatory, but eventually the threat of Polio was virtually eliminated from American society.
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  BurnTheShips

  Not health insurance companies, drug companies.

  This is equally illogical, especially since it is these drug companies that developed the vaccines!

  Gardasil is marketed by Merck, and Cervarix is by GlaxoSmithKline.

  Both of these are among the world's largest pharmas, and I'm no fan of big pharma!

  BTS
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  DanaBug

  Compare the cost of a vaccine like Gardasil to the cost of treating cancer; chemo, drugs to alleviate the side effects of cancer, etc. Which costs more?

  My fiance's dad underwent chemo and radiation last year for throat cancer (no, he doesn't have HPV). Even after his employer's insurance coverage, he paid about 4k out of pocket. Treatment was about 5 months, it wasn't a large tumor about the size of a marble. I know that's different than cervical cancer, that can be treated before it becomes cancer. But if it's not caught early, and you have to go through that kind of treatment, it gets expensive. A big chunk of that will go to the hospital and doctor you use, but you also be paying for drugs during that treatment. And I bet you'll pay more for those than the vaccine costs.
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  avishai

  A cure for many addictions has also been developed (alcohol, cocaine, kleptomania, gambling, opiates) and has also been largely ignored. See my post on "For those of us who drink too much"
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  BurnTheShips

  Compare the cost of a vaccine like Gardasil to the cost of treating cancer; chemo, drugs to alleviate the side effects of cancer, etc. Which costs more?

  Sorry, unless you can prove your conspiracy to keep vaccines away from people, I am just going to chuckle. The vaccination problem is too many people buying into the antivaccine crap.

  BTS