Are tx drugs more better in the US?

[fretboard]

Excuse my ignorance in this area but my inquiring mind wants to know.lol  I was checking out the attached article and I was thinking about how expensive some of the tx drugs are gonna cost and I was just wondering.  It seems to me that clinical trials are all over the world and not exclusive to the US.  Anyways, I'm sure there are other countries with their own ideas and drugs for HepC tx, so I gotta ask.

Do other countries have tx drugs that are cheaper than ours and are they any good=effective?  Anyone know anything about this?  danka

http://protomag.com/assets/pharmaceutical-discoveries-more-dollars-more-drugs

http://www.hivandhepatitis.com/hep_c/news/2011/0531_2011_b.html

[Aaron57]

I'm in Tx in Indonesia .. Inf/Riba is less than half price of the U.S. , I get them direct from the Roche distributer here .. all well inside the expiration dates ...

India and Philippines is the same $ as here from what I understand ..
I'm pretty sure all developing nations have a significant price reduction from the full cost of the U.S. or Europe ..

I called direct to Roche here .. asked for their distributer in my area and ended up paying 15% less than I would have buying from my doctor or his pharmacy ..
In SE Asia .. most "respected" doctors own or are financially involved with a pharmacy & lab ...

[orphanedhawk]

I'm in Thailand at the moment and know that some meds here are cheaper and others are controlled and require a prescription and aren't any cheaper.
There are lots of things you can get here in the Pharmacy by just asking.

I was at a street market recently and saw old meds for sale on one table.

A few years ago when I asked the meds were the same interferon and ribavarin.
Honestly, the  best answer is probably that it depends on which country.
Some are worse, some the same and maybe some are better.

[Aaron57]

The Japanese are probably the most advanced .. as their population became infected apx. 60 yrs. ago .. not cheap there but more open minded to clinically trying alternative tx , and medical filtration devices .. Taiwan also is testing filtration device DFPP developed in Japan.

The German's seem to be at the front lines also .. and France where they allowed PI's before FDA approval for emergency cases .. if I understand correctly ..  possibly Russia has some options ...  

Many countries require the person to be a resident to be included in clinical trials as they are searching for results relative to their specific gene pool ...

If you are looking for a DAA/PI type med ... as far as I know, most countries wait for the FDA to approve new meds before allowing them into practice ...

Hope this helps ...

[Bill1954]

I believe at least one of the new HCV protease inhibitors is manufactured in India by a pharma subcontractor; I'm not sure if this is relevant to your question?

--Bill