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Novo Nordisk facing pressure as study finds $1k drug can be made for $5

fortune.com

201–210 of 218 posts

Re: Novo Nordisk facing pressure as study finds $1k drug can be made for $5

#201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Novo Nordisk is based in Denmark and they did a lot of research. Of course, cherry picking the stuff Eli Lilly brought first makes it seem they are the ones driving the thing forward but it only makes sense in the wider contact and when compared with what other have done first as well.

Novo piggybacked on a ton of research especially with metformin done in the US. Let's not be delusional that Denmark is a bastion of cutting edge biological research

> Novo piggybacked

Isn't this how research and science works?

> Let's not be delusional that Denmark is a bastion of cutting edge biological research

Except in this case, it is? All I read seems to point they did push the envelope a lot of times. Do you have some other reason to say this except "psht, get real, it's Denmark"

Re: Novo Nordisk facing pressure as study finds $1k drug can be made for $5

#202
post #9

Producing it is not the hard part. Researching it is... And you are not paid for your research "up front". It's added to the cost afterwards.

There is an awful lot of sympathy for the drug company in this thread. You are correct, research and approval is expensive. But at some point there is a limit. Things like insulin are long paid off, and the pricing there has generated controversy. People have been charged $1000 a month for it [1]. What’s fair? They are screaming out to be regulated when they behave so badly, and that’s what’s happened with insulin. […

Wonder how many of these folks are on big pharma’s payroll and feel a need to defend those profiting in the billions from patented blockbuster drugs. Thankfully Biosimilars are eating away at patented drug molecules/biologics to reduce prices.

Re: Novo Nordisk facing pressure as study finds $1k drug can be made for $5

#203
post #9

Producing it is not the hard part. Researching it is... And you are not paid for your research "up front". It's added to the cost afterwards.

There is an awful lot of sympathy for the drug company in this thread. You are correct, research and approval is expensive. But at some point there is a limit. Things like insulin are long paid off, and the pricing there has generated controversy. People have been charged $1000 a month for it [1]. What’s fair? They are screaming out to be regulated when they behave so badly, and that’s what’s happened with insulin. […

Not only are there different types of insulin, but there are different types of delivery mechanisms. "Convenience" is continually being "innovated."

Approval of biosimilars, state laws capping price, and manufacturer out of pocket max are driving down the price over the last 4 years.

https://www.goodrx.com/healthcare-access/research/how-much-d...

Re: Novo Nordisk facing pressure as study finds $1k drug can be made for $5

#204
Biosimilars couldn’t come soon enough. These companies are profiting off these billion dollar blockbuster drugs, even the R&D scientists are getting peanuts for creating the novel molecules, yet the biopharma company blocks everyone from reproducing drugs under the broken patent system. Biosimilars benefit us all by reducing prices like generics do.

Someone correct me if I’m wrong

Re: Novo Nordisk facing pressure as study finds $1k drug can be made for $5

#205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Frankly the US pays for the cost of the research while the rest of the world just pays for the cost of production. Top 10 pharma companies, 5/10 are US (2 UK, 2 Swiss, 1 French). 4 of the top 6 for profit margins (from 43%(!) to 19%) are US (Merck is the only outlier, 9th, at 10%). 4 of the top 5 for Sales and Marketing Spend (both on raw dollars and as a percentage of revenue) are US. 3 of the bottom 5 for R&D spe…

That's a 10 year old article. Although if we rank by market cap top 6 are from the US these days (by revenue 5 out 10 seem to be European) so not much has seemingly changed (besides Novo Nordisk becoming the second most valuable pharma company out of nowhere)

> That's a 10 year old article. Although [the] top 6 are from the US these days […] so not much has seemingly changed

Well, thanks for the update. Correcting a citation an out-of-date article that is - as you admit - apparently still relevant as cited was definitely worth everyone’s time.

Re: Novo Nordisk facing pressure as study finds $1k drug can be made for $5

#207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Should they not profit on that capital invested for that research? Do landlords drop rents when the loan is paid off? Of course not, they’re going to price rents what the market supports. Competition is what makes markets work. Invent a drug? And someone else invents a similar drug? Prices will go down.

Rental markets rooted where I am. Fails to provide for society the purpose it exists for. So yeah if your saying big pharma is the same sure I'm on board. Profit enough to survive. But don't take more than your worth. Tbh profiting off medicine is about as low as profiting off weapons manufacturing. You literally make money out of the misery of others. Thank f#@k I live in a country that has free healthcare. The conc…

Free healthcare is not really free. And it is good until you hit the point where the next available appointment date is 12+ months ahead.

Re: Novo Nordisk facing pressure as study finds $1k drug can be made for $5

#209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you also need to cover the cost of the 100 drugs that failed at various stages of the pipeline. Not saying that it's not a screwed up industry, but stories like these distort the problem as well

Are the people running drug companies barely scraping by?

Obviously not, but my general experience with conversations like these is that people never do the math.

If we split the profits across all of the people that "deserve reimbursement" you usually end up with a few dollars per person. Definitely, not enough to make a meaningful impact.

Additionally, the American consumer subsidizes R&D and costs for the rest of the world. America routinely pays 5x-20x more for drugs than other countries and American grants account for >50% of worldwide medical research funding (caveat: the last time I checked). Yup, even Europe is a fraction of what America pays.

I would encourage you to actually do the math and decide for yourself rather than taking (or anyone else's) word for it.

Re: Novo Nordisk facing pressure as study finds $1k drug can be made for $5

#210
Over simplifying but the real questions are - How long did it take to create - How long did it take to streamline manufacturing - What were the associated costs and so on. Then what's the real cost distribution over current practices. I'm sure the answer isn't a 1000$ and certainly not 5$ - but maybe something in between or a bit less? Articles like these are too simple and lack perspective for clicks...
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