The sorry state of asthma medication is a tragedy that could have completely been avoided. For a long time, asthma medication was not under patent protection.

The sorry state of asthma medication is a tragedy that could have completely been avoided. For a long time, asthma medication was not under patent protection. The FDA, however, outlawed all generic asthma medication because it contained CFCs [0] in the late 00's, and the replacement delivery system was newly eligible for patent protection simply due to using a different propellant. [1] This wasn't some amazing new advancement in the drug formula, they just changed how it got into your lungs - ostensibly due to environmental concerns. This case is a damning indictment of patent law and in how we handle externalities generally. The environmental cost of CFCs was an externality that no drug manufacturer ever had to pay. What's the solution to that problem? Of course it's not to tax or fine manufacturers who continuing to pollute, no: it's to reward some pharma companies with a fresh monopoly for altering the medication such that it doesn't deplete the ozone layer. Congratulations on the amazing new drug you developed! You're now doing the bare minimum that should be required to be a citizen of the planet by not actively destroying it with pollutants! Here's your reward, a monopoly, with which you can extract money from the (mostly poor) asthma sufferers who no longer have affordable medication. I don't understand why this wasn't a bigger story. [0] http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/InformationbyDrugClass/ucm080446.htm http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/InformationbyDrugClass/u... [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/13/us/the-soaring-cost-of-a-simple-breath.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20131013&_r=1 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/13/us/the-soaring-cost-of-a-s...