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> Do these companies still charge the same prices as in the US? The majority of global R&D happens in the US market, even though the entire world benefits from

> Do these companies still charge the same prices as in the US? The majority of global R&D happens in the US market, even though the entire world benefits from it. So pharmaceutical companies have come to expect to recoup their R&D costs from the US market. Ultimately, this means that European markets benefit from the research without having to shoulder the bulk of the costs from it. If they couldn't do that here, then yes, they might adjust their business models and try and charge more in Europe and India. But as mentioned above, India doesn't recognize patents, and since the R&D isn't taking place in Europe, there's less of a need to charge the same prices there. And because there isn't one single European market, its more complicated to price drugs there in such a way as to reliably turn a profit (after accounting for R&D) in each individual country than it is in the US, where insurance players are licensed by state but the pharmaceutical market is otherwise roughly uniform across all 50 states.

airless_bar 10y ago
This is utter non-sense. Companies charge as much as they can, they don't follow some altruistic "we love Europe" plan. I understand your point though: Of course it's easier to bask in American exceptionalism than facing the truth that corporations rule the US and the only human value they are interested in is the amount of dollars extractable through any means imaginable.
- chimeracoder 10y ago
  > some altruistic "we love Europe" plan. Nobody said anything about altruism, or 'loving Europe'. I don't know where you're getting either of those ideas from. > Of course it's easier to bask in American exceptionalism This is hardly a claim of American exceptionalism. It's a non-normative observation about the existing structure of the markets. It is not a statement that this is how it always must be, or that this is how it should be. It is merely a description of what currently is.
  - airless_bar 10y ago
    Wrong.

airless_bar 10y ago

This is utter non-sense. Companies charge as much as they can, they don't follow some altruistic "we love Europe" plan. I understand your point though: Of course it's easier to bask in American exceptionalism than facing the truth that corporations rule the US and the only human value they are interested in is the amount of dollars extractable through any means imaginable.

chimeracoder 10y ago
> some altruistic "we love Europe" plan. Nobody said anything about altruism, or 'loving Europe'. I don't know where you're getting either of those ideas from. > Of course it's easier to bask in American exceptionalism This is hardly a claim of American exceptionalism. It's a non-normative observation about the existing structure of the markets. It is not a statement that this is how it always must be, or that this is how it should be. It is merely a description of what currently is.
- airless_bar 10y ago
  Wrong.