I'm not a socialist for most things (like tech companies), but stories like this push me farther towards agreeing with nationalizing health care.
Drug Goes from $13.50 a Tablet to $750, Overnight
101–110 of 461 posts
Re: Drug Goes from $13.50 a Tablet to $750, Overnight
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
Virtually all national health care systems perform better (in every sense) than the American private sector one.
That's definitely untrue. Check out the cancer survival rates. The US exceeds most countries by far. Now, if you had said "Virtually all national healthcare system provide better care based on cost " I would have agreed with you.
according to the last CONCORD study, this seems to be not true.
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-67...
numbers in the US are good, but not significantly better than, say, germany.
Re: Drug Goes from $13.50 a Tablet to $750, Overnight
#103It 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…
Yet people are still quick to say "...but what about Big Pharma?" when there's a discussion about abolishing patents.
I don't know if patents should be abolished completely, but if there's a discussion about a serious patent reform, we should stop considering pharmaceuticals as some kind of exception, and apply the new reform equally to everyone, instead of allowing exceptions for Big Pharma, or worse, watering down reforms to protect Big Pharma.
Re: Drug Goes from $13.50 a Tablet to $750, Overnight
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree, a healthcare system, the question is at what cost per patient/treatment. The healthcare system, is a system, not an industry per se. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for public healthcare... but the comment feels like a knee jerk reaction.
The US government currently spends more per capita on healthcare costs than Britain, France, or Canada.
Is that true? Because when you combine that with the amount that US citizens spend on private insurance and other self-funded health care expenses, wow.
Re: Drug Goes from $13.50 a Tablet to $750, Overnight
#105I used to work for a generics manufacturer, and indeed this was their MO. Seek out old drugs that sill have a very viable market but are under the radar of the big guys, undersell until they're the only supplier left, then jack up the price when patients have no choice. It's despicable and seems inevitable with the current regulation model.
But what is preventing a different generics manufacturer to enter the market at that point? How long can an exploit like that go on?
The cost to setup a process and maintain it according to FDA requirements.
The market size is likely just under the cost to establish the manufacturing capacity for the US market.
Re: Drug Goes from $13.50 a Tablet to $750, Overnight
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
Except for socialized health care? http://healthcarereform.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourc... And roads, electricity, emergency services, internet service... > performing better (in every sense) Oh, I see, you didn't really want a fair comparison. No matter how far you separate the means of two gaussians their tails will always overlap, and therefore you are tautologically correct. I'll try to remember that next…
I don't think you understood my comment. "Socialised healthcare" is a system where a public institution puts capital to take care of a patient by using private-made products and services. i.e. the needles, IT systems, ambulances, drugs, etc, the public system is a platform, but not an industry. Let the market be free, private companies are better at solving real problems. If the price of a drug is expensive (i) a pub…
Loads of things have been handed over from the government to companies within The Netherlands. Your general statement that governments are not good I highly doubt. Especially for basic services, governments seem to run them cheaper and more reliably.
Re: Drug Goes from $13.50 a Tablet to $750, Overnight
#107When I see "treating a life-threatening disease" and $750 a pill, formerly $14, I think people need long prison sentences to solve that. If we can put food processors who knowingly ship tainted food in prison in this country for endangering or even killing people, we can certainly imprison people for endangering lives by preventing the reception of medication.
We put a food processor who knowingly shipped tainted food in prison?
Re: Drug Goes from $13.50 a Tablet to $750, Overnight
#108Drug 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.
It's really shocking to such an anti-technological development comment on site about technological development. If the federal government had locked down all IT development in the 1980s as you proposing they do for pharmaceuticals, we wouldn't have this forum to comment on, much less the industry it is built around.
It really isn't comparable.
Computers are tools. Drugs are health. They are a public good and a natural human right. Holding people's health hostage is unacceptable whether you do it with a knife in an alley, or a capitalist health system.
Mixing them up like the USA system does is a category error.
Re: Drug Goes from $13.50 a Tablet to $750, Overnight
#109I am a fund manager and I have followed Martin Shkreli since his prior company, Retrophin, went public about two years ago. Simply put, Martin is a sociopathic criminal with a well-established, and consistent track record of deceit, recklessness, failure, and just plain old stupidity. But he is also hyper-aggressive. He is currently living in Switzerland, and it's my understanding that he fled the country in order to…
When I saw the headline I had a feeling it would be Turing. I was contacted by a recruiter last year and had a couple conversations about joining them as they were looking for an IT guy - the CIO was doing all of that work and they wanted someone else to be hands-on and eventually build a team. Sounded like a great opportunity and things were progressing. Then I bothered to Google them...
Once I read up on Martin Shkreli I told them that I did not think it was the kind of place for me and withdrew. I have no idea if they would have hired me or anything, but just reading about him gave me a sick feeling in my stomach.
Re: Drug Goes from $13.50 a Tablet to $750, Overnight
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
Virtually all national health care systems perform better (in every sense) than the American private sector one.
That's definitely untrue. Check out the cancer survival rates. The US exceeds most countries by far. Now, if you had said "Virtually all national healthcare system provide better care based on cost " I would have agreed with you.
There are many rankings that put the US healthcare system as a whole behind its economic peer countries whilst spending far more per capita. Example:
http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/fund-reports/20...
Excluding 15% of the population from all but emergency care pretty much guarantees this outcome.