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Drug Goes from $13.50 a Tablet to $750, Overnight

nytimes.com

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Re: Drug Goes from $13.50 a Tablet to $750, Overnight

#31

Post by DanBC »

jakobegger wrote: post #28

It should be pretty obvious by now that the pharma sector is completely out of control. Again and again I read about the rising cost of healthcare, how we can't afford to support an aging society, and now even "solved" problems are used to squeeze even more profits from those who can afford the least. And I'm not talking about the US, this is a world wide problem. Instead of making international treaties that make en…

pyrimethamine (the generic name) is listed several times in WHO's list of essential medicines.

http://www.who.int/selection_medicines/committees/expert/20/...

It's not a huge list of medicine. It would seem to be reasonable to allow people to make and sell the meds on this list for profit, without allowing them to engage in the scumbag behaviour submitted article talks about.

Re: Drug Goes from $13.50 a Tablet to $750, Overnight

#32

Post by tankenmate »

dsaum wrote: post #14

Oddly enough, I think the story buries the lede. Near the bottom, refers both to the fact that distribution of the drug very recently became controlled and that Shkreli -- now owner of the drug -- has previously talked about controlled distribution "as a way to thwart generics."

Prima facie evidence of monopolist behaviour?

Re: Drug Goes from $13.50 a Tablet to $750, Overnight

#33

Post by santialbo »

brixon wrote: post #15
JulianMorrison wrote: post #9

Drug creation needs to be nationalized, 100% tax funded all the way from researcher to trials to manufacture, and the drugs sold at cost thereafter. And the pharmaceuticals industry needs to just go away.

The drugs might end up being cheaper, but there will be much less research for drugs (aka less drugs in the future). Greed is a good motivator.

I have a feeling the motivated researcher is not the one getting the money. We just need to cut out the middleman.

Re: Drug Goes from $13.50 a Tablet to $750, Overnight

#34

Post by jakobdabo »

brixon wrote: post #15
JulianMorrison wrote: post #9

Drug creation needs to be nationalized, 100% tax funded all the way from researcher to trials to manufacture, and the drugs sold at cost thereafter. And the pharmaceuticals industry needs to just go away.

The drugs might end up being cheaper, but there will be much less research for drugs (aka less drugs in the future). Greed is a good motivator.

The same greed makes the drug industry to develop drugs which treat the illness rather than cure it. Regular drug users are much better for them than one-time users.

Re: Drug Goes from $13.50 a Tablet to $750, Overnight

#35

Post by misnome »

I was under the impression that this was entirely the purpose of generic versions? At least in the UK (yes, I know we are relatively spoiled by the NHS), almost every popular drug has a generic version easily accessible.

If I'm reading this right, the UK NHS price for BRANDED Daraprim is £13/30 tablets: https://www.evidence.nhs.uk/formulary/bnf/current/5-infectio...

and the purpose is listed as primarily an antimalarial.

Re: Drug Goes from $13.50 a Tablet to $750, Overnight

#36

Post by JulianMorrison »

brixon wrote: post #15
JulianMorrison wrote: post #9

Drug creation needs to be nationalized, 100% tax funded all the way from researcher to trials to manufacture, and the drugs sold at cost thereafter. And the pharmaceuticals industry needs to just go away.

The drugs might end up being cheaper, but there will be much less research for drugs (aka less drugs in the future). Greed is a good motivator.

I actually don't agree at all.

There is a big danger in the approach I gave, but it's political interference. If the god-botherers can be forced to keep their mitts off, I expect my way would create more basic research and more simple effective drugs.

Greed motivates chasing the slight change that will let your company replace an ageing-out-of-patent drug with a freshly patented one, drugs for rich people, drugs aimed at insurance payers, and it de-motivates improving the basics.

Re: Drug Goes from $13.50 a Tablet to $750, Overnight

#37

Post by DanBC »

antr wrote: post #26
JulianMorrison wrote: post #9

Drug creation needs to be nationalized, 100% tax funded all the way from researcher to trials to manufacture, and the drugs sold at cost thereafter. And the pharmaceuticals industry needs to just go away.

I want my goverment helping people avoid health issues, rather than subsidising costs that could have been prevented. I've yet to see any one industry that has been nationalised and is performing better (in every sense) than the private sector.

In the US the government bits of health care out-perform the private bits of health care.

One of the reasons the US has good health outcomes for some things like cancer is because of the huge amounts of government spending.

Re: Drug Goes from $13.50 a Tablet to $750, Overnight

#38

Post by DanielBMarkham »

I'm a libertarian and completely in favor of private property and an open, informed marketplace.

Having said that, this is out of control. If you know you're selling me a life-or-death product which has no peer, and the government protects your property such that others can't make it cheaper? It's not a market. It's rent-seeking, highway robbery.

Bad actors are going to cause an overreaction that is going to seriously disrupt new product research. The thing for these companies to do is back down while saving face. There are real medicines that might cost this much to develop, and we need to develop them. Polluting the pharma market with even more price-gouging will not end well for anybody concerned.

Re: Drug Goes from $13.50 a Tablet to $750, Overnight

#39

Post by pessimizer »

antr wrote: post #26
JulianMorrison wrote: post #9

Drug creation needs to be nationalized, 100% tax funded all the way from researcher to trials to manufacture, and the drugs sold at cost thereafter. And the pharmaceuticals industry needs to just go away.

I want my goverment helping people avoid health issues, rather than subsidising costs that could have been prevented. I've yet to see any one industry that has been nationalised and is performing better (in every sense) than the private sector.

Virtually all national health care systems perform better (in every sense) than the American private sector one.
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