3 ms·
There are many many reasons. IMHO medicare not being able to negotiate prices is silly and expensive but not the whole story. If i could wave a magic wand and
by jfoutz 10y ago
There are many many reasons. IMHO medicare not being able to negotiate prices is silly and expensive but not the whole story.
If i could wave a magic wand and change any one thing, I'd require drugs and perhaps devices for clinical trials to be produced by the patent office, from the text of the patent. I think this would reduce the FDA approval for generics down to, Can the manufacturer make the drug correctly and consistently?
I don't have a problem with companies charging whatever they wish for the shiny new drug. But the transition to generic needs to be as simple, cheap and smooth as possible.
- ianai 10y agoIs there an example for the difficulty of making a generic being a barrier to entry for competitors?
- jfoutz 10y agoThe epipen is a glib response. Biologics are pretty notorious for not being reproducible. Etanercept (Enbril) is the last one i looked at deeply. There winds up being some 'secret sauce' that doesn't quite make it into the patent. edit Enbril is around $2000/month, for what it's worth.
- dnautics 10y agoStrictly speaking, epipen is a device, not a drug... The drug inside sells for pennies.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]