The Washington Post has published a very interesting story titled "US Medicine is Crazy".
It's about two eye drugs, Avastin and Lucentis, virtually the same. Both Avastin and Lucentis are equally effective. One costs $50. The other costs $2,000. Guess which is prescribed a half million times a year?
According to the Washington Post doctors may benefit if they prescribe the more expensive drug. Yet, the article estimates that the drug is costing Medicare an extra $1 billion a year. But apparently there is a less expensive way. According to a study from the National Eye Institute in 2009 reported by Emaxhealth "omega-3 fatty acids added to the diet may help prevent development of the eye disease vision loss by more than 30%."
So why do we have 2 drugs, both doing the same thing, one is 50 dollars and the other 2000?