3 ms·

That may be because the US is leading the way on drug development. After the drug has been developed, the drug company will be able discriminate on price to max

by bko 11y ago

That may be because the US is leading the way on drug development. After the drug has been developed, the drug company will be able discriminate on price to maximize revenue. I imagine the cost of getting approval to sell a drug in European countries that has already been developed and tested for the US is much smaller than the actual development. It could be that without the US system, these drugs would not be available in European countries as well. Mandating lower prices for drugs is unlikely to work as it hasn't worked in the past (Venezuela everything, US gasoline, etc).

Thimothy 11y ago
It IS working, and has been for decades. States set with the drug companies the prices of the medicines, and if they want to make business in that country, they'd better get to an agreement. In the US that could "easily" be implemented at State level. See my other comment about the alleged leading of the US in drug development. Or this other article, that explains it better: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1261198/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1261198/
on_ 11y ago
> Mandating lower prices for drugs is unlikely to work Not sure if you are saying this generally, or you mean it as a response. I did not mean to indicate this, I believe lowering regulations and dev. costs would be beneficial but not mandating lower prices. As an aside, I agree with you but would be interested to see if America can continue to compete in the drug market long term. Obviously, it is a big market, but with countries like China and India and their growing middle classes, if they have a more attractive development cycle with less regulation and tighter feedback I wonder if biotech would move overseas. America has really great biotech and science sectors because engineers move out of those countries here. If this stops, other markets become more attractive, and/or the patent system remains broken I would be pretty concerned.

by bko 11y ago

Thimothy 11y ago

It IS working, and has been for decades. States set with the drug companies the prices of the medicines, and if they want to make business in that country, they'd better get to an agreement. In the US that could "easily" be implemented at State level. See my other comment about the alleged leading of the US in drug development. Or this other article, that explains it better: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1261198/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1261198/

on_ 11y ago

> Mandating lower prices for drugs is unlikely to work Not sure if you are saying this generally, or you mean it as a response. I did not mean to indicate this, I believe lowering regulations and dev. costs would be beneficial but not mandating lower prices. As an aside, I agree with you but would be interested to see if America can continue to compete in the drug market long term. Obviously, it is a big market, but with countries like China and India and their growing middle classes, if they have a more attractive development cycle with less regulation and tighter feedback I wonder if biotech would move overseas. America has really great biotech and science sectors because engineers move out of those countries here. If this stops, other markets become more attractive, and/or the patent system remains broken I would be pretty concerned.