Epilepsy Talk
Brand-Name Epilepsy Drug Prices Jumped 277% Over 11-Year Period
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“Compared with 2008, costs for brand-name anti seizure meds (ASMs), rose from approximately $2,800 to $10,700 per year in 2018, while costs for generic brand ASMs dropped $800 to $460. As a result, many generic ASMs cost about 10 times less than their brand-name counterparts…”
Suicide and epilepsy…
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We are in a mental health crisis in this community. And not enough is being done to avert it.
According to a peer-reviewed journal article from Epilepsy and Behavior, statistics concluded that people with epilepsy are 22 times more likely to commit suicide than the general population.
New hope for drug resistant epilepsy
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Drug-resistant epilepsy with uncontrolled severe seizures — despite state-of-the-art medical treatment — continues to be a major problem for up to 30% of patients with epilepsy.
Although drug resistance may fluctuate in the course of treatment, for most patients, drug resistance seems to be continuous.
Unfortunately, traditional antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) don’t seem to prevent or reverse drug resistance in most patients.
However, some new add-on AED therapies have shown as much as 50% in seizure reduction.
Tags: brain, chemical, connections, drug, electrical, faulty, lesions, resistance, structural, wiring
Hidden hospital bill gouging…gone!
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In April 2017, a man named Drew Calver thought he was dying. A heart attack had pinned him to the floor of his bedroom. His neighbor took him to St. David’s Medical Center in Austin, where he was successfully treated.
Weeks later, he received a bill from the hospital: That’ll be $108,951.31, please. St. David’s was out of network on his insurance, and Aetna had only paid $55,840 of the total $164,941 bill for his treatment.
$56,000 a year for an unproven drug!
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Getting the FDA to retract a decision, is like getting the toothpaste back in the tube, after it’s been squeezed out…
Whether it’s “yes” or “no,” there is no “maybe so”.
A good example is the new all star Alzheimer’s drug aducanumab.
Whether it’s “yes” or “no,” there is no “maybe so”.
Tags: $56000 a year, aducanumab, Alzheimer’s, efficiency, FDA, not proven, patients, risk, side-effects
A ‘Pacemaker’ for the Brain…Reducing Seizures by as Much as 50%…and Depression up to 30%
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Some people know Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) as a treatment for epilepsy, reducing seizures by as much as 50 percent.
It’s designed for the considerable number of patients suffering from medically refractory epilepsy who are not candidates for for resective brain surgery.
This tiny pacemaker-like device, is implanted in the brain to deliver a small amount of electricity when it detects the onset of a seizure.
But, what most people DON’T know know is that Deep Brain Stimulation, can help depression by up to 30 per cent.
Tags: can help depression by up to 30%, DBS, Deep Brain Stimulation, emotions, individualized, nearly 1/3 of the more than 250 million people with depression, one size does not fit all, pacemaker-like device, reducing seizures bu as much as 50%, tiny
What Is the FDA Thinking?
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Getting the FDA to retract a decision is like getting the toothpaste back into the tube, once it’s been squeezed out.
Take the current all-star Alzheimer’s drug aducanumab. It’s not a proven but it IS approved. To the hefty price tag of $56,000 a year!
$112 billion new Alzheimer’s drug in question
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Getting the FDA to retract a decision is like getting the toothpaste back in the tub, after it’s been squeezed out…
Whether it’s “yes” or “no,” there is no “maybe so”.
A good example is the new all star Alzheimer’s drug aducanumab.
Tags: $112 billion costs, &56000 a year, alzheimer's, FDA, Medicare, not proven, side effects
The first new Alzheimer’s drug in 18 years may not work.
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Getting the FDA to retract a decision is like getting the toothpaste back in the tub, after it’s been squeezed out…
Whether it’s “yes” or “no,” there is no “maybe so”.
A good example is the new all-star Alzheimer’s drug aducanumab.
Tags: $5600 a year, aducanumab, Alzheimer's drug, amyloid plaque, billions of dollars, caregiver, FDA, Medicare, not proven
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