A cheaper better way to manufacture herceptin, avastin, perjeta, TDM-1...Sheila would

[Rolepaul]

Price does enter into the cost of drugs. Genentecch is owned by Roche, a Swiss holding company that is closely held by a few family members with controlling interest. Same with Novartis. These families control the industry, but the hospitals are also to blame.
As for being alive or not, Nina would not be alive in most countries. Interathecal trastuzumab, IT Topotecan, IV Trastuzumab, and IV Navelbine (oh and the Neupogen) costs have been picked up by the insurance company or the cancer center, with us paying about $4800 in total of the $800,000 in bills. For Nina to be alive today (exactly one year after spinal nerve involvement was found) is nothing short of a miracle. The amount of fighting done with the people involved at the cancer center and insurance company is minimal compared to the frustration of being able to see her only three or four days every two weeks for eight months due to treatment out of the area.
If it can be done less expensively, you need more people like me. We do not make the money that stock brokers, good real estate agents, and others do. We do it because we like to make people healthy. 7500 people get to say hello to their children and grandchildren because of a product I make. We doubled production in six years and reduced scrap material by 90%. Cheaper, faster, better can be done with the right team.