8 ms·
The headline says "to expose corporate greed" The premise is that $57 was the old price. and they bumped it up to $318. And a DIY group can pull it off for $3
by bisby 10y ago
The headline says "to expose corporate greed"
The premise is that $57 was the old price. and they bumped it up to $318.
And a DIY group can pull it off for $30, without economy of scale.
From wikipedia "In 2007 when Mylan acquired the rights to market the product, annual sales of all epinephrine autoinjectors were about $200M and EpiPen had around 90% of the market; in 2015 the market size was around $1.5B and Mylan still had about 90% of the market"... $1.5B annually... So if FDA testing costs them $10,000,000 anually, thats still less than 1% of their revenue.
That means that with economy of scale, and dispersing the cost of testing over several million sales, they could easily produce a product for $30. But they don't because they dont really care about saving lives, they care about getting paid. They would prefer people die than them make less money.
Completely not about "hey do it this cheap easier way" but "heres the rock solid proof that a $300 (even $60) EpiPen is stupid"
- sp527 10y agoYou know that's probably what they're getting at, but you have to admit it's dangerous to present their point in this way. I don't think it's a stretch to argue that if you offer an instruction manual for making something, some people will make it (and some of them will do so incorrectly).
- jacobwcarlson 10y agoThat's an odd slippery slope argument to make on a site called "Hacker News."
- sp527 10y agoUh actually most people on here understand you don't hack "mission critical" (involving peoples' lives).
- CamperBob2 10y agoWhy not? Governments and corporations do it every day.
- mc32 10y agoWhile I agree $300 is a ripoff and takes advantage of how medicine works in the US (i.e. the cost for most users is opaque b/c insurance pays) I can also see that $30 is not likely a viable price --just like I can put a sandwich together for $3 doesn't mean I can run a profitable sandwich shop selling sandwiches at $3. As a consumer I could see this for $75 - $100 retail (and some discount to institutional buyers) but $30 is probably not viable and of course $300 is ridiculous.
- iopq 10y agoBut it's profitable to sell sandwiches at $6 - that's the whole point.
- mc32 10y agoIt's only profitable to sell $6 sandwiches if... 1. you use unpaid labor (family) or 2 you have 1,000+ franchisees. If you are low volume, you're gonna have to sell at $8 - $10 to make something worthwhile. Now, I get it, they are unquestionably overcharging for this drug and delivery system. I just don't think you can say that since I can make something at the rock bottom price of $x that someone else should be able to make a living (or run a pharma corp.) by selling at a similar price. The sweet spot is somewhere between $30 and $300, where it is is probably closer to $100.
- iopq 10y agoIf you have 10 customers an hour on average and you pay some guy $10 an hour to make 10 sandwiches, then your costs at $4 per sandwich. That means you have 33% headroom to pay rent for your business, which is better than what McDonald's has. McDonald's has decent pricing because they shoot for like 28% and a lot of volume (much more than 10 customers an hour and probably more hours than your business). A soda machine is basically free money because syrup and water cost pennies. The cup is the most expensive thing you give to the customer for his $1.99 soda.
- mc32 10y ago