Posted by Michael Wonder on 09 Mar 2019
Dutch join backlash at expensive drugs by making their own
8 March 2019 - In a radiation-proof room at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, Emar Thomasa sits behind shielded glass as he carefully measures and mixes lutetium octreotate, an intravenous treatment for certain types of cancer.
The Dutch hospital has been offering it to patients for more than a decade at 16,000 euros ($18,000) for one course of treatments. Drug firm Novartis, which in 2018 acquired rights to sell it in Europe, is asking more than five times that for its proprietary version, Lutathera.
Thomasa is part of a protest against high drug prices launched by an unlikely group of rebels: Dutch pharmacies.
