Bravo Andraka!!!

through non-medical efforts - people who can compile and analyze information (habits of people who got it)

He just increased their profit margins.

here's a link to TED
http://talentsearch.ted.com/video/Jack-Andraka-Detecting-pancreat;TEDNew-York

so it's the lab industry not pharma.

Yes there is a horrendous markup on lab tests. On one test, the lab billed the insurance about $90 for the test, and the negotiated rate for the test was about $6. I was responsible for the $6. Had I no insurance and didn't shop around, I would be on the hook for $90.

So if/when this test becomes available, the lab will charge a much higher amount, and the insurance company will have a (much) lower negotiated rate. If insurance pays for this then they pay less... if you pay you pay less than the standard rate - but much more than 3 cents.

He sounds like an amazing young man. My aunt died of pancreatic cancer, this test would've helped her get an earlier diagnosis.

Funny, though, I have a feeling, if big pharma has anything to do with the marketing, the test will cost significantly more than 3 cents.

And that's just their cost to providers. Expect another 200-300% markup after that.

not a drug so it's not pharma you have to worry about here.

I imagine a mark-up of some kind is inevitable (even the lab companies are profit-driven, no?), but hopefully it will be a very small one!

the lab industry is a lot like the hospital industry in that the profit structure is pretty strongly veiled. I don't know what this kid is doing with his invention, if he's patented it he can set the price for license or even give it away kind of like open source software.

Of course it's not as simple as that, he used somebodies research facility, if it's a University they'll have a nice finger in the pie through the tech transfer agreements all University researchers must sign. When I was in grad school I had my name on 3 patents. Including me, my supervisor and a post-doc we had to add the University and the private funding source for the research to the patent. If he used a private lab, or worked as a student in a private lab that lab will have a patent say as well.

When it comes down to it, the test will have to be manufactured by a company specializing in producing the lab test kit. They will jack the price up then sell it to a middleman distributor who'll jack the price up. This then goes to the lab company that carries out the test.

The nice thing here is that it's now pretty well known that this test is a cheap and easy one so publicity will likely keep the cost down... I hope.

And yeah, it would be a good idea for the kid to avoid small airplanes for a while.

The pharmaceutical industry operates in the same corporate for-profit arena as the tobacco industry.

not a drug, blame the lab industry if you want.

Andraka may be the only one who will ever be able to use this since hospitals probably won't release it. They need to figure out how to make it cost 1000 times more and that could take decades. People might just start doing medical procedures on themselves given the resistance that hospitals in the U.S. are developing against helping people.

identifying disease. If he starts coming up with cures instead of treatments, he is dead!

The AMA and their partner big Pharma will not allow this. They will fully fund his research and then control the results. I hope he can withstand the pressure., When you think about all the research money NIH gives out in biomedical research projects that ultimately benefit no one you wonder why something this simple has not already been done...years ago? I believe there are many such findings that have been squashed by large grantees or their government handlers, the FDA. The problem with the FDA and other government agencies set up to regulate in our best interests is that there are thousnds of good, smart, decent people who work for these agencies who try their best to do the right thing for the citizens of this country but they are thwarted on every turn by political appointees who run these agencies who are, themselves, controlled by their handlers (big corporations). Many decent career Federal employee have lost jobs and ruined careers when they try to expose mal-practice, abuse, waste and mismanagement.

I think the capitalist healthcare system will ride the fence on healthcare becoming so expensive that we are on the verge of nationalizing it, then they pull back, suck us back into letting the insurance companies and others bankrupt us.

K/R

to cover more extensive testing, as well as mass production and distribution.

So, that means the test will cost $20 in Europe and $500 in the US.

Thanks for the thread, Laura PourMeADrink.

But unlike this teenager, big pharma has to spend millions of dollars and years dealing with the FDA to make sure whatever test is safe and accurate for general use. My guess is this inventor didnt spend more than $1000 to fully develop his idea.

lengthy list of all the side effects on their TV ads. This pill may help you quit smoking but you may commit suicide before you finish the dosage

This is probably a cancer which could be cured if caught early enough. I hope this is soon used to screen many, it is not an easy death.