3 ms·
Why not skip step 1, then? Let the company sell it for however much it wants, and the non profit competes them out of business?
by ikeboy 11y ago
Why not skip step 1, then? Let the company sell it for however much it wants, and the non profit competes them out of business?
- toomuchtodo 11y agoSupply chain stability. Availability is sometimes more important than cost, and if you have a government non-profit producing the drug, you're not wasting any money on the profit that a private company is extracting. Drugs should be priced based on their cost to produce and whatever R&D needs to be amortized, not by how much value you can extract.
- ikeboy 11y agoI still don't understand. Why do you need to set prices for private companies if you're competing with them yourself?
- toomuchtodo 11y agoBecause the free market doesn't work when there's inelastic demand, or when supply chain disruptions cost people their life.
- ikeboy 11y agoIf you think the government making the drug is a viable solution, there's no need to set prices. If you think the government making the drug is not a viable solution, then you shouldn't set prices for fear of the drug being cancelled. Could you point out the flaw here?
- jgoewert 11y agoThe government (FDA in this case) doesn't make the medication. They just get someone else to make it. They tell company X "You F'ed Up. Give us all your documentation and we will take it to company Y to make." I'm trying to remember the name of the company that this happened to. It was like 8 years ago and I think I remember them being a cardiac arrest medical. Anyhow, the company CEO flat out refused the FDA regulators demands that they get their manufacturing process up to standards. The FDA went to another manufacturer (I believe Johnson and Johnson) and asked if they would make the medication and they accepted. The FDA then shut down the prior company. When lives are impacted, the FDA doesn't mess around. They put CEOs in prison for the crappy decisions they make.
- ikeboy 11y agoThere's a big difference between "not having a manufacturing process up to standards" and "raising the price insurance companies have to pay".