This pill used to cost me 10c/pill, now it's $5/pill. I take it 3x day.

#1

Post by zaidf » Fri, Apr 01, 2011, 5:56 AM UTC

This pill used to cost me 10c/pill, now it's $5/pill. I take it 3x day.
slate.com

Re: This pill used to cost me 10c/pill, now it's $5/pill. I take it 3x day.

#2

Post by noonespecial » Fri, Apr 01, 2011, 6:19 AM UTC

I think maybe its about time we set up something life the NSF to conduct these trial for the FDA (in the particular case of orphaned and old drugs) and generally does a much better job of dealing with the mess that drug trails have come to be.

At some point, this knowledge becomes a public good and the conflict of interest presented by those seeking to win approval also being the ones who stand to win a "get a monopoly free card" becomes too great a moral hazard to expect to overcome.

There just seems to be something fundamentally wrong with rent seeking someones pain, no matter what legal process led to that result. It feels like something we should have grown out of by now.

Re: This pill used to cost me 10c/pill, now it's $5/pill. I take it 3x day.

#3

Post by ck2 » Fri, Apr 01, 2011, 7:08 AM UTC

Based on previous "investigations", basically nothing will happen to the company and things will continue as usual.

The $5-per-pill price URL Pharma set for Colcrys surprised the FDA

Find the people that were surprised and terminate them immediately. The "FDA" wasn't surprised, it was a few idiots left in charge.

What if they just do a compromise of $2.50 a pill, is that really going to help anyone when it was 10 cents previously? How about $2, or even $1 ? 1000% markup is okay when it comes to people's health? It's okay for the CEO to buy their 2nd or 3rd house with the profits while patients suffer? When as a society are we going to tell corporations they need to be responsible for all their actions and not just help a few charities to do penance afterwards.

Re: This pill used to cost me 10c/pill, now it's $5/pill. I take it 3x day.

#4

Post by meric » Fri, Apr 01, 2011, 7:15 AM UTC

ck2 wrote: post #3

Based on previous "investigations", basically nothing will happen to the company and things will continue as usual. The $5-per-pill price URL Pharma set for Colcrys surprised the FDA Find the people that were surprised and terminate them immediately. The "FDA" wasn't surprised, it was a few idiots left in charge. What if they just do a compromise of $2.50 a pill, is that really going to help anyone when it was 10 cen…

All too true. By the time they do something about it the exclusivity would've ended and the price of the drug dropping back to normal.

Re: This pill used to cost me 10c/pill, now it's $5/pill. I take it 3x day.

#5

Post by zaidf » Fri, Apr 01, 2011, 7:19 AM UTC

meric wrote: post #4

ck2 wrote: post #3

Based on previous "investigations", basically nothing will happen to the company and things will continue as usual. The $5-per-pill price URL Pharma set for Colcrys surprised the FDA Find the people that were surprised and terminate them immediately. The "FDA" wasn't surprised, it was a few idiots left in charge. What if they just do a compromise of $2.50 a pill, is that really going to help anyone when it was 10 cen…

All too true. By the time they do something about it the exclusivity would've ended and the price of the drug dropping back to normal.

I'm still optimistic. For some reason, while the general exclusive is for 3 years, for my condition(Familial Mediterranean Fever) it is 7 years. Yikes.

Re: This pill used to cost me 10c/pill, now it's $5/pill. I take it 3x day.

#6

Post by klochner » Fri, Apr 01, 2011, 7:37 AM UTC

  The drug maker K-V Pharmaceutical obtained exclusive 
  rights to produce an injection for women at high risk of 
  delivering prematurely. But the FDA is opening up the 
  market to specialty pharmacies after the company raised 
  the dosage price from $20 to $1,500.

http://www.latimes.com/health/la-na-fda-drug-price-20110331,...

Re: This pill used to cost me 10c/pill, now it's $5/pill. I take it 3x day.

#7

Post by zaidf » Fri, Apr 01, 2011, 7:39 AM UTC

klochner wrote: post #6

The drug maker K-V Pharmaceutical obtained exclusive rights to produce an injection for women at high risk of delivering prematurely. But the FDA is opening up the market to specialty pharmacies after the company raised the dosage price from $20 to $1,500. http://www.latimes.com/health/la-na-fda-drug-price-20110331,...

Hopefully they will do the same for colchicine! So far, no cigar though and we(colchicine consumers) have a pretty active community that's been trying for years now to prevent this from happening with little luck.

Re: This pill used to cost me 10c/pill, now it's $5/pill. I take it 3x day.

#8

Post by sentinel » Fri, Apr 01, 2011, 7:50 AM UTC

So if I get it right, FDA has enforced a monopoly by not allowing competitors to penetrate the market with the same drug.

Re: This pill used to cost me 10c/pill, now it's $5/pill. I take it 3x day.

#9

Post by roel_v » Fri, Apr 01, 2011, 7:59 AM UTC

sentinel wrote: post #8

So if I get it right, FDA has enforced a monopoly by not allowing competitors to penetrate the market with the same drug.

Exactly, and this is the problem, not the drug manufacturers.

Re: This pill used to cost me 10c/pill, now it's $5/pill. I take it 3x day.

#10

Post by zaidf » Fri, Apr 01, 2011, 8:02 AM UTC

roel_v wrote: post #9

sentinel wrote: post #8

So if I get it right, FDA has enforced a monopoly by not allowing competitors to penetrate the market with the same drug.

Exactly, and this is the problem, not the drug manufacturers.

The counterpoint to that is if they don't grant the exclusivity, the cos won't be willing to invest money and resources to do the testing because the returns wouldn't be as strong.

In these cases though, the counter-argument to that is the price jump is unjustified relative to the $ invested in doing the testing.