7 ms·

This monopoly doesn't sound very natural.

• zo1 11y ago
  Nor does the phrase "natural monopoly". If I didn't know better, I'd say it was a phrase that was post-created in order to be a "valid" argument against a free-markets ability to self-correct without the presence of a state.
• acveilleux 11y ago
  When someone first dredged up the rights for this drug, it sold 667,000$ worth of pills every year for 1$ each. GlaxoSmithKline produced it and it just wasn't worth the trouble to discontinue or to muck about with. No one would make a generic because it would be more expensive to enter the market than profits could be realized. So the monopoly is natural because no one with any good sense would consider competing. That GSK sold the rights to this drug (and quite possibly other similar drugs) to some other company in a rational bid to monetize inefficient assets and increase shareholder value has upset that monopoly but Turing just needs to exploit the market until the generics show up. That and the price they paid explain Turing's strategy.