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⚠️ Please read with care: This blog shares personal, sometimes painful experiences. My intention is to support and speak honestly not to harm. I’m not a professional, just someone who understands how hard it can get. If you're struggling, you're not alone please reach out for professional help.
The FDA (our cousins across the pond) just gave “tentative approval” to a generic version of Zeposia (ozanimod), one of the many alphabet-soup drugs meant to keep MS from eating us alive. Tentative means “yes, but not really” like being offered a pint and then told the bar’s shut for refurb.
In the UK, this matters because once the patents loosen their grip, generics can flood in and in theory the NHS might actually afford to hand them out without an existential crisis.
The NHS Angle
Cost: Prescriptions are capped at £9.90, but behind the scenes, the NHS is getting mugged for thousands per patient. A generic could cut the bill, maybe freeing up money for… oh I don’t know, hospital chairs that don’t disintegrate on sight.
NICE Bureaucracy: Even if the generic’s cheaper, it still has to crawl through the NICE assessment maze. That means years of reports, consultations, and polite “considerations” while we nap in waiting rooms.
Postcode Lottery: In theory, cheaper drugs mean fewer cruel “not funded in your area” letters. In practice, the NHS is a patchwork quilt held together with sticky tape and denial, so don’t bet your mobility scooter on it.
What It Means for Us Mere Mortals
If it works out, we get:
Less guilt about bankrupting the system every time we collect a blister pack.
More chance of actually getting the drug if you need it.
A tiny glimmer of justice in a system that usually treats chronic illness like a budget inconvenience.
But don’t kid yourself: “tentative” is a synonym for “sit down, shut up, and wait.”
Dark Sarcasm Corner
Big Pharma: “That’ll be £50k, cheers.” Generics: “Tenner, mate.” NHS: “We’ll let you know in 2029 after the committee meeting.”
Closing Ceremony
This is good news but only in the way hearing your execution’s delayed counts as good news. For now, same pills, same circus, different price tag on the horizon. Clap quietly; we don’t want to startle the bureaucrats.
I write in ink and fury, in breath and broken bone.
Through storm and silence, I survive. That is the crime and the miracle.,
𒀭𒊩𒆳 ᚹᚨᚱᛚᛟᚲ ᛞᚨᚱᚲ ✦ 𒀭𒊩𒆳 ᚹᚨᛏᚲᚺᛖᚱ ᚨᛗᛟᚾᚷ ᚹᚨᛏᚲᚺᛖᚱᛋ
