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Drug companies spend millions to keep charging high prices

latimes.com

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Re: Drug companies spend millions to keep charging high prices

#3
Another casualty of our idiotic patent laws meeting our idiotic health care laws. Every single law is designed to improve profits at the cost of lives and in America, most people are totally ok with that despite what the article claims. Then they justify it by saying that we wouldn't have companies to make drugs if we forced them to have reasonable prices. Our idiot legislators really think that you can get rid of drug dealers by keeping prices high? I cannot imagine such just cruelty and hate driven by greed. If the patent program ended tomorrow or was severely reduced in scope (duration of patent), we'd have so much competition (and therefore affordable prices) in this space, it'd start to overshadow our current tech explosion. If we allow Medicare to negotiate prices, we'd have much more affordable prices.

The judicial death penalty we impose on criminals might be defendable ethically, but the death penalty we impose on our own citizens due to greed and cruelty is indefensible, cruel, and monstrous. Just so a few beyond-rich people can get even richer. Disgusting.

Re: Drug companies spend millions to keep charging high prices

#4

We need to find a way to decrease the time and cost of introducing new drugs to market so we can disarm the argument these drug companies have about needing insane profits to fund research.

You could already disarm that argument by looking at the numbers. Pharmaceuticals as a whole are one of the most profitable industries and their spending on R&D as a percentage is not that high. They spend much more on marketing.

Re: Drug companies spend millions to keep charging high prices

#5
post #4

We need to find a way to decrease the time and cost of introducing new drugs to market so we can disarm the argument these drug companies have about needing insane profits to fund research.

You could already disarm that argument by looking at the numbers. Pharmaceuticals as a whole are one of the most profitable industries and their spending on R&D as a percentage is not that high. They spend much more on marketing.

> They spend much more on marketing.

This is my pet peeve. If you are going to regurgitate a talking point, please regurgitate the _right_ talking point. They spend more on marketing and administration. You know, useless stuff like HR, IT, etc. What company need stupid stuff like that?

Re: Drug companies spend millions to keep charging high prices

#6

We need to find a way to decrease the time and cost of introducing new drugs to market so we can disarm the argument these drug companies have about needing insane profits to fund research.

America's prices are a subsidy for the rest of the world, whom relies on American medications that they often outright infringe ownership of.

Say what you want about America, but it can't be denied that the majority of drugs in the last few decades which the world depends on has been thanks to the American government, American companies, and the American people.

One way to fix the price would be simply to stop giving away our inventions for pennies, and get the rest of the world's governments to actually pay a fair price if they want to use our products.

Re: Drug companies spend millions to keep charging high prices

#8

There are generic Epi-pens, which are much, much cheaper. You -do not- have to buy the name brand. Non-issue made big by the media and anti-capitalist hordes expecting more free stuff.

Is this true? See the first Google link:

https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/health/epipen-generic/

Re: Drug companies spend millions to keep charging high prices

#9

There are generic Epi-pens, which are much, much cheaper. You -do not- have to buy the name brand. Non-issue made big by the media and anti-capitalist hordes expecting more free stuff.

There is no generic of the Epi-Pens. There's other treatments similar to the epi-pen but if you have prescription to an epi-pen, there is no generic that pharmacist can change it out for.

Re: Drug companies spend millions to keep charging high prices

#10

There are generic Epi-pens, which are much, much cheaper. You -do not- have to buy the name brand. Non-issue made big by the media and anti-capitalist hordes expecting more free stuff.

Is this true? See the first Google link: https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/health/epipen-generic/

Parent comment's being sloppy. Parent meant to say that there are generic EpiPen alternatives (epinephrine + delivery system) but there isn't a generic EpiPen (name brand delivery system). Mylan claims that EpiPen (injector) has superior features and is easier to use.

Here's the relevant quote from the article you linked:

  "The patents that currently prevent a generic form of EpiPen 
  are on the injector device itself, not the medicine inside. 
  So, while you can’t get a generic EpiPen, there are 
  alternatives that use epinephrine."
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