Dave Davies

Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Anne-Marie Baldonado, Lauren Krenzel, Teresa Madden, Monique Nazareth, Thea Chaloner, Susan Yakundi, and Anna Bauman. Our digital media producer is Molly C. Vinesper. Hope Wilson is our consulting visual producer. For Terry Gross and Tanya Mosley, I'm Dave Davies.

Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Anne-Marie Baldonado, Lauren Krenzel, Teresa Madden, Monique Nazareth, Thea Chaloner, Susan Yakundi, and Anna Bauman. Our digital media producer is Molly C. Vinesper. Hope Wilson is our consulting visual producer. For Terry Gross and Tanya Mosley, I'm Dave Davies.

Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Anne-Marie Baldonado, Lauren Krenzel, Teresa Madden, Monique Nazareth, Thea Chaloner, Susan Yakundi, and Anna Bauman. Our digital media producer is Molly C. Vinesper. Hope Wilson is our consulting visual producer. For Terry Gross and Tanya Mosley, I'm Dave Davies.

This is Fresh Air. I'm Dave Davies. Our guest today, David Armstrong, is a veteran investigative reporter who in 2023 was writing stories about challenges for patients in American health care when he was suddenly plunged into his subject in a deeply personal way. He was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, an incurable blood cancer.

This is Fresh Air. I'm Dave Davies. Our guest today, David Armstrong, is a veteran investigative reporter who in 2023 was writing stories about challenges for patients in American health care when he was suddenly plunged into his subject in a deeply personal way. He was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, an incurable blood cancer.

This is Fresh Air. I'm Dave Davies. Our guest today, David Armstrong, is a veteran investigative reporter who in 2023 was writing stories about challenges for patients in American health care when he was suddenly plunged into his subject in a deeply personal way. He was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, an incurable blood cancer.

He would soon be prescribed a drug called Revlimid, which is cheap to make but really expensive to buy. A single pill costs nearly $1,000, roughly the price of a new iPhone. Armstrong decided to research the development and marketing of the drug, and he discovered tactics used by drug companies to maintain monopolies on their medications as long as possible and keep prices high.

He would soon be prescribed a drug called Revlimid, which is cheap to make but really expensive to buy. A single pill costs nearly $1,000, roughly the price of a new iPhone. Armstrong decided to research the development and marketing of the drug, and he discovered tactics used by drug companies to maintain monopolies on their medications as long as possible and keep prices high.

He would soon be prescribed a drug called Revlimid, which is cheap to make but really expensive to buy. A single pill costs nearly $1,000, roughly the price of a new iPhone. Armstrong decided to research the development and marketing of the drug, and he discovered tactics used by drug companies to maintain monopolies on their medications as long as possible and keep prices high.

Revlimid is one of the best-selling pharmaceuticals of all time, with total sales of more than $100 billion. This is also remarkable since the parent compound in Revlimid, thalidomide, was banned in most of the world in the 1960s, after it was shown to cause severe birth defects when given to pregnant women. David Armstrong is a senior reporter for ProPublica who focuses on health care.

Revlimid is one of the best-selling pharmaceuticals of all time, with total sales of more than $100 billion. This is also remarkable since the parent compound in Revlimid, thalidomide, was banned in most of the world in the 1960s, after it was shown to cause severe birth defects when given to pregnant women. David Armstrong is a senior reporter for ProPublica who focuses on health care.

Revlimid is one of the best-selling pharmaceuticals of all time, with total sales of more than $100 billion. This is also remarkable since the parent compound in Revlimid, thalidomide, was banned in most of the world in the 1960s, after it was shown to cause severe birth defects when given to pregnant women. David Armstrong is a senior reporter for ProPublica who focuses on health care.

He previously reported for STAT, the online service reporting on health and medicine, as well as the Boston Globe and the Wall Street Journal, where he shared a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the 9-11 attacks. His new story about Revlimid is The Price of Remission. You can find it at the ProPublica website. Well, David Armstrong, welcome to Fresh Air.

He previously reported for STAT, the online service reporting on health and medicine, as well as the Boston Globe and the Wall Street Journal, where he shared a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the 9-11 attacks. His new story about Revlimid is The Price of Remission. You can find it at the ProPublica website. Well, David Armstrong, welcome to Fresh Air.

He previously reported for STAT, the online service reporting on health and medicine, as well as the Boston Globe and the Wall Street Journal, where he shared a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the 9-11 attacks. His new story about Revlimid is The Price of Remission. You can find it at the ProPublica website. Well, David Armstrong, welcome to Fresh Air.

I want to begin with your illness and the drug that you need to treat it. Multiple myeloma is an incurable blood cancer. Tell us about its symptoms, the course it typically takes in the human body.

I want to begin with your illness and the drug that you need to treat it. Multiple myeloma is an incurable blood cancer. Tell us about its symptoms, the course it typically takes in the human body.

I want to begin with your illness and the drug that you need to treat it. Multiple myeloma is an incurable blood cancer. Tell us about its symptoms, the course it typically takes in the human body.

And how long do typically patients live with this illness?

And how long do typically patients live with this illness?