The People’s Pharmacy
In 1987, the Food and Drug Administration approved the first drug against AIDS. AZT (zidovudine) was a breakthrough antiviral medication against HIV (human immunodeficiency virus).
The Burroughs Wellcome (BW) company that developed AZT announced the cost of the new medication at around $10,000 a year. That made it the most expensive drug ever sold in the United States at that time.
Protests over the price of this medication were intense. AIDS advocates formed an organization called ACT UP, and protestors took to the streets. They invaded BW headquarters in North Carolina and the New York Stock Exchange. There was also a national boycott of popular Burroughs Wellcome products such as Actifed and Sudafed.
The attention prompted a Congressional inquiry which was followed by a substantial price reduction of AZT to $8,000 annually. It was around that time that we met an AIDS activist who was highly placed in the pharmaceutical industry. He told us about a meeting he had attended earlier with drug company executives. Someone asked these industry leaders what they would charge for a hypothetical cure for cancer. The answer: They would have to give it away. These Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America leaders feared that the American public would not stand for price gouging on a life-saving breakthrough medicine.
Fast forward to 2025. Pharmaceutical companies are making tens of billions of dollars a year on cancer treatments. Some orphan drugs for rare conditions have unbelievable price tags.
According to www.Drugs.com, the cost of the stem cell gene therapy Lenmeldy for metachromatic leukodystrophy is over $4 million for a single treatment. Granted, children with this potentially fatal metabolic condition only need one treatment. But very few parents will be able to come up with that kind of money out of pocket even to save their child’s life or preserve their ability to walk.
Then there are cancer treatments. One of the latest and most impressive therapies for many cancers is CAR-T (chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy). A full course of treatment could run between $500,000 and $1 million for hospitalized patients, with average costs topping $400,000 for outpatients (Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, February 2024).
Even people who have decent health insurance may find that their co-payments break the bank. And sometimes insurance companies deny access to pricey treatments.
One bright spot could make high drug prices less stressful for some people. The Inflation Reduction Act has a provision effective January 1, 2025. It caps out-of-pocket drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries at $2,000.
That should make quite a difference for seniors. The American Society for Clinical Oncology estimates that it will save the average prostate cancer patient around $8,000 annually.
In addition, the legislation allows Medicare to negotiate prices for certain medications. Up until now, drug companies have set their own prices in the U.S. They had to negotiate prices with the health care agencies of most other countries. As a result, Americans have been paying far more for their treatment than people elsewhere in the world. While that won’t change overnight, negotiated prices should help put on the brakes.
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In their column, Joe and Teresa Graedon answer letters from readers. Write to them in care of King Features, 628 Virginia Drive, Orlando, FL 32803, or email them via their website: www.PeoplesPharmacy.com. Their newest book is “Top Screwups Doctors Make and How to Avoid Them.”
(c) 2025 King Features Syndicate, Inc.