Re: In medicine, cost and price are decoupled
[ Follow-Ups ]
[ Post Followup ]
[ The Islet Foundation Public Message Forum ]
Posted by Al Gordon on 14:11:07 2009/06/23
In Reply to:
Re: Each memory cost posted by Steve
So true about computer memory. I just bought a 1.5 Terrabyte (that's 1.5 trillion) disk drive for $179! Technology and demand have a way of bringing down prices dramatically.
Actually, the cost for an islet xenograft is not in the production of pigs. What is the dollar value of a piglet today? Maybe $15? Multiply that by 10 or 20 or 30 for a super-clean specific-pathogen-free pig, and you still have a base cost of a few hundred dollars. Let's say we need 2 or 3 pigs for a xenograft, we may be spending $1,000 on the "raw materials". The cost of microencapsulation may be $1,000 in the early days, so we have an input cost of maybe $2,000 before we get to the clinic.
So the problem is not tilapia vs. pigs as a source of islets. The problem is scarcity. When something is very scarce relative to demand, it is very expensive. When something is abundant relative to demand, it is cheap.
Also, those who have spent decades and most of their own money getting us to this stage must be rewarded handsomely, unless we want medical advances to dry up completely. The sunk costs at this stage are staggering in dollars, time and opportunity forfeited.
Al
Follow Ups:
Post a Followup
[ Follow Ups ]
[ Post Followup ]
[ The Islet Foundation Public Message Forum ]