Utterly disgusting

Normally, I stay out of any thing political. I just get sick and tired of all the bickering and all the point of fingers. Lets be honest, we all played a part of where we are currently, regardless of your political stance.

But never has something hit so close to home.

The drug that I was placing a lot of hope in should we ever decide to have another child now costs more than gold per dose. Yup. More than gold. It went from $10 a dose to $1500 a dose.

And why, you ask? Well, from everything I'm seeing and reading, it's for the simple desire of KV Pharmaceuticals to make money. And lots of it. Where am I getting this idea? Well, a popular blog for preemie moms is The Preemie Primer and she posted what she found. She states:

"But KV Pharmaceuticals didn’t spend a dime on getting 17P to market (okay, maybe they spent a few bucks photocopying their application and getting their lawyers to review the paperwork), but you and I paid for the pivotal research because it was funded by the NICHD (National Institute of Child and Health Development). In addition, 17P is already recommended by the American Congress of OB/GYN, so they don’t need to do any marketing. All KV Pharmaceuticals has to do is get their factory up and running and do some post marketing studies. They are laughing all the way to the bank. To protect this gold mine, the Associated Press is reporting that KV Pharmaceuticals has already sent cease and desist letters to several compounding pharmacies."

This has been all ablaze on facebook today among my close group of preemie moms. We are all outraged. Some, who are currently pregnant after having a preemie and were prescribed this drug have called their OB's and insurance companies to find out that they are now denying the claims for this protocol calling it "experimental."

KV Pharmaceuticals is trying to defend itself and say that they have an assistance program in place for those making less than 100k. Well, ok you say. That would cover me, but that's not the point. How can a drug that was already produced, tested, marketed and now only needs to have the production process streamlined so as to increase quality control possibly require over a 15000% increase?!?

It's not that there aren't other options out there. There are. I could just wait until I'm in active labor and then end up admitted to the hospital again on bed rest. On a mag drip. Getting regular doses of terbutilene. Ending up with gestational diabetes. It kept me pregnant for 3 extra weeks last time. That made all the difference. But honestly, I'd rather try to avoid that. My other option? To never have any more kids that I carry myself.



I never want to see this again for either myself or anyone! Especially if it could have been prevented by having affordable access to reliable healthcare!