Tragédia Luso-Grega

Acto 1: Another Danish pharmaceutical company is withdrawing products from Greece in protest at the government's decision to cut the prices of medicines by 25%. The decision by Leo Pharma to suspend distribution of an anti blood-clotting agent and a remedy for psoriasis takes Greece one step closer towards an all-out boycott by medical suppliers. Earlier this week another Danish company, Novo Nordisk, withdrew sales of its state-of-the-art insulin product from Greece for the same reason.

Acto 2 (tragédia lusa): A indústria farmacêutica vai deixar de fornecer gratuitamente os dispositivos utilizados por 600 mil diabéticos, método através do qual fazem a leitura da tira que mede a glicemia. A ameaça foi feita pelos laboratórios, na semana passada, quando o Governo anunciou a redução em 10% no preço de venda ao público das referidas tiras, comparticipadas em 85% pelo Estado.

Os "especuladores financeiros" (vulgo, compradores de dívida pública dos Estados) têm a arma apontada à cabeça dos governos dos Estados. Estes só estão a decretar o fim do sacrossanto Estado Social.

É a vida!

A explosão da diabetes

A diabetes é uma doença difícil. A diabetes implica uma perda de qualidade de vida significativa. A diabetes tem tendência a aumentar, atendendo à má alimentação que as pessoas têm nos dias de hoje.

Vejamos este estudo da situação previsível nos EUA:

• The number of Americans with diabetes may almost double in 25 years, and the annual cost of treating them may triple to $336 billion, according to a study published today in the journal Diabetes Care.
• Without new programs to assure that people get health care to manage their condition, 44.1 million people in the U.S. will have diabetes by 2034, from 23.7 million today.
• The number of diabetics on Medicare, the government plan for the elderly, will reach 14.1 million from 6.5 million today.
• Diabetes drugs were the fourth-best selling medications in 2008, with $27.3 billion in global sales, according to IMS Health.
• “To do nothing is going to be extremely expensive,” O’Grady said in a Nov. 24 telephone interview. “It’s going to mean millions of Americans continuing to get this disease and a lot of heartache.”.
• The analysis by O’Grady and his colleagues included the impact of aging and obesity rates as well as the natural progression of the disease over time to come up with estimates on numbers and costs. They found diabetes treatment estimates of $113 billion this year would increase to $336 billion by 2033.

Este estudo é importante. Este estudo deveria ser feito em Portugal.

Apenas e só um aspecto lateral, mas de relevo: Copenhagen-based Novo Nordisk A/S, the world’s biggest maker of insulin, funded the study. The company sold $6.1 billion of insulin products in 2008.