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Why a Pill That's 4 Cents in Tanzania Costs Up to $400 in the U.S

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Re: Why a Pill That's 4 Cents in Tanzania Costs Up to $400 in the U.S

#81

Post by harryh »

jacquesm wrote: post #78
harryh wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because there is no price the competitor can charge that the original supplier can't match. This is a commonly cited reason but I don't buy it. They're selling these things for 4 cents in tanzania so we're talking about something that is practically free to make. There are lots of things that cheap where we see competition in the US: paperclips, reams of paper, chewing gum, whatever. Why is there competition for thes…

At a guess because then that other manufacturer would undercut the first manufacturers cash cows. In other words: it could easily be a cartel of sorts with some regulatory capture thrown in to ensure the cake stays divided between entrenched parties. Situations like these should count as evidence that something isn't quite as it should be.

Cartel behavior is definitely an excellent hypothesis and I couldn't agree more about "something isn't quite as it should be."

Re: Why a Pill That's 4 Cents in Tanzania Costs Up to $400 in the U.S

#82

Post by swarnie_ »

Retric wrote: post #58
snarf21 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, this is true. There are other things that would change too. We could have these (or other) pills for pennies. However, we can't have a 24 hour drive through pharmacy on every other corner and an Urgent Care on the other AND pills for pennies. Yes, the companies are making tons but a lot of that money pays for people to make it convenient for you to get your pills. And as someone else commented, we are basically…

McDonald's can have 24/7 drive though windows while selling burgers and fries, but most pharmacy's are not open close to 24/7.

Pharmacists cost a lot more to employ then a couple of 17 year olds

Re: Why a Pill That's 4 Cents in Tanzania Costs Up to $400 in the U.S

#83

Post by vorotato »

bufferoverflow wrote: post #67
geekamongus wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please let us know what is "working" for US citizens about the current system.

You pay, you get healthcare. Yeah, it's not cheap, but your max out of pocket for 2017 with a marketplace plan is just $7150. https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/out-of-pocket-maximum-li...

When you get robbed, you pay and you don't get shot. Yeah it's not cheap....

Re: Why a Pill That's 4 Cents in Tanzania Costs Up to $400 in the U.S

#84

Post by vorotato »

notyourday wrote: post #5
nasmorn wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the FDA will fight to your death for your right to safe medicine.

I'm baffled by the snark. Could someone please attempt to reconcile the following positions for me: 1. We need regulation of drugs/medicine/etc because we do not want some snake oil peddlers peddling arsenic as medicine? 2. Regulations prevent us from getting shit cheap! Baaaaa!

Both of these things can be true?

Re: Why a Pill That's 4 Cents in Tanzania Costs Up to $400 in the U.S

#85

Post by Symmetry »

huherto wrote: post #62
bufferoverflow wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Typical socialist answer. Burn a working system to the ground, so everyone suffers equally. At the very least the current system allows poor countries to enjoy cheap excellent drugs, researched and paid for by the wealthy western countries.

No one is really really suggesting to burn it down. It is just an expression of how frustrated we are becoming with a system that is not working out. It is hurting us. It is hurting the country.

As long as burning down the system includes allowing US residents and hospitals to import medicine from other first world countries then I suspect that it might actually be superior to the current system. If it doesn't then no, expensive and sometimes inferior drugs are better than nothing.

Re: Why a Pill That's 4 Cents in Tanzania Costs Up to $400 in the U.S

#86

Post by DennisP »

snarf21 wrote: post #18
empath75 wrote: post #4

The answer is that our insurance and medical billing system is a complete tirefire and needs to be burned to the ground and replaced with something sane.

Yes, this is true. There are other things that would change too. We could have these (or other) pills for pennies. However, we can't have a 24 hour drive through pharmacy on every other corner and an Urgent Care on the other AND pills for pennies. Yes, the companies are making tons but a lot of that money pays for people to make it convenient for you to get your pills. And as someone else commented, we are basically…

Since drugstores mostly aren't owned by the pharmaceutical companies, I'm not sure you're correct about that part. At minimum, the wholesale price could be pennies, and the retail store could mark up by whatever amount they need.

Re: Why a Pill That's 4 Cents in Tanzania Costs Up to $400 in the U.S

#88

Post by exabrial »

> https://www.drugpatentwatch.com/p/NDA/020666

From what I can tell, there are no patents. That means the only thing making this expensive is the lack of competition. The company bought the marketing rights and took over manufacturing.

I would imagine after a second supplier enters the market prices will crash.

Re: Why a Pill That's 4 Cents in Tanzania Costs Up to $400 in the U.S

#89

Post by ZeroGravitas »

snarf21 wrote: post #18
empath75 wrote: post #4

The answer is that our insurance and medical billing system is a complete tirefire and needs to be burned to the ground and replaced with something sane.

Yes, this is true. There are other things that would change too. We could have these (or other) pills for pennies. However, we can't have a 24 hour drive through pharmacy on every other corner and an Urgent Care on the other AND pills for pennies. Yes, the companies are making tons but a lot of that money pays for people to make it convenient for you to get your pills. And as someone else commented, we are basically…

Even if it was true that the extra money paid for pharmacuticals in the US was funding 24hr drive-through pharmacies, that would still be an idiotic system that needs burned to the ground. People who need drive through pharmacies should pay for them. People who want to order things online shouldn't be subsidizing them. Hiding the cost in a pill helps no-one and is obviously sub-optimal.

Similarly, if you really wanted to subsidize pharmaceuticals for the rest of the world (and I'm not convinced you actually do) then again, hiding the cost in the pills, is a silly way to do it.

If on the other hand, you wanted to charge as much as you could get away with, and could pay off politicians in order to be allowed to take advantage of sick customers to line your own pockets then putting that in the cost would make perfect sense.

Re: Why a Pill That's 4 Cents in Tanzania Costs Up to $400 in the U.S

#90

Post by ZeroGravitas »

sol_remmy wrote: post #74
FLUX-YOU wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that insurance costs continue to rise for no real reason. They even made costs rise when more people were insured because of ACA. In what world does that make sense?

> They even made costs rise when more people were insured because of ACA. In what world does that make sense? I'm surprised you don't remember the reason because it was in the news 24/7. It's because insurance costs 10X for sick people (because they also draw 10X in insurance), those sick people could not afford their insurance, and the ACA gave those uninsured sick people deeply subsidized insurance, raising the ave…

The ACA reduced the rate of price rises, so it can't possibly be the cause of the price rises.
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