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Politics : A US National Health Care System? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Koligman who wrote (8995)	9/2/2009 9:57:13 PM
From: i-node	4 Recommendations Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 42652

Take Erbitux, developed by ImClone Systems, which costs $10,000 a month. A study in Canada showed that as a last-ditch treatment for colorectal cancer, Erbitux lengthened lives by an average of about one and a half months compared with not treating the cancer at all. You really have to be careful tossing around terms like "an average of about one and a half months". That could 5 years in some people and if you can identify those people, you've made a pretty big advancement. This is just like the use of Taxol and Taxotere. On average, they may help very little but if you can isolate those people who are responsive, it can be a very effective treatment. In June of this year, a company announced the development of a test that allows them to predict which persons will be responsive to Erbitux. For those who are, it could be a great chemo drug.

To: John Koligman who wrote (8995)	9/3/2009 7:09:27 AM
From: John Carragher	3 Recommendations Respond to of 42652

12 days is a start to weeks , months , years. i have young friend.. she has stage four breast cancer , well it started out as breast cancer and has spread throughout her body. At the time she wasn't given any hope and she has lasted six years. she has a small child who was only three at the time. this woman has been fighting cancer on various chemo mixes, other recommendations she could never get as she could not afford them. She looks very ill at this time and nothing else seems to be working although she started a new cocktail yesterday. i wonder would our new proposed health care program have given her another six years to raise her child? How does anyone know the fight some people have to live through almost impossible situations and some recover completely. Let's hope cost controls do not take away a persons right to live if they wish to try.