4 ms·

You don't have enough information to determine if it's a net negative to society. You don't even have enough information to determine it's a net negative for t

You don't have enough information to determine if it's a net negative to society. You don't even have enough information to determine it's a net negative for the unfortunate baby with toxoplasmosis, since at $13 there might not be any supply. Since it's out of patent, you're free to start manufacturing and selling it at $13 if you want.

kristopolous 9y ago
> you're free to start manufacturing and selling it...if you want. This common apologetic ignores the real-world cost of infrastructure, overhead, and accruing a user-base that an existing company has already established. It excuses irresponsibility and negligence of the public trust. Nobody would say, for instance, "corrupt politician? You're free to stage a revolution, overthrow the existing state, draft a constitution, establish a sovereign power and diplomatic ties with other states if you want" No, we know how absurd and ridiculous that is, so we have tried to create reasonable mechanisms for dealing with political corruption through the ballot box and removing barriers to entry for legitimate challengers. But in business, this trope is implying "You're free to abandon your career, study chemical engineering, get financing to start a lab, hire a large staff of experts, buy the machinery, run an advertising campaign, establish the customer base ..." It changes the frame of reference from abuse and incompetence on important matters to essentially shaming people for not starting multiple successful industrial capitalist enterprises in their leisure time. There needs to be more reasonable mechanisms for dealing with abuses of power then requiring such expensive and elaborate responses. Otherwise most abuses go unchallenged.
- paulriddle 9y ago
  > But in business, this trope is implying "You're free to abandon your career, study chemical engineering, get financing to start a lab, hire a large staff of experts, buy the machinery, run an advertising campaign, establish the customer base ..." On the other hand, this trope also implies that you have to pay for all of this, and perphaps $13 is not a good price for the drug. What is an appropriate price for this drug? You say it's abuse and incompetence, but could it be that you're wrong and it's a rational decision?
  - kristopolous 9y ago
    Abuse and incompetence can be perfectly "rational" depending on what you value in life. And the point was about existing infrastructure. The drug existed, and made money, at $13, using paid for infrastructure that did other things, made other drugs as well, run by an existing staff that had other tasks. You don't buy a car to drive 1 mile or start a restaurant to serve 1 meal. Instead, an existing company should make a competitor, say Imprimis Pharmaceuticals, which did so in 2015 for $1.00 each. This is fundamentally about abusing power and position for profit and saying others should get the same power and position to stop the abuse. My only contention is that isn't reality and the world doesn't work that way.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
- Consultant32452 9y ago
  There are reasonable mechanisms in place. Patents expire and there's many capable manufacturers. If you think there's a need for a charity in this space, go get the funding. The difficulty of getting this funding and the scale of funding that would be required would be a strong indicator to you if whether you have reasonable expectations for existing manufacturers or not.
y_molodtsov 9y ago
As far as I remember, nobody is actually able to procude it in the US using the exact same process.

kristopolous 9y ago

> you're free to start manufacturing and selling it...if you want. This common apologetic ignores the real-world cost of infrastructure, overhead, and accruing a user-base that an existing company has already established. It excuses irresponsibility and negligence of the public trust. Nobody would say, for instance, "corrupt politician? You're free to stage a revolution, overthrow the existing state, draft a constitution, establish a sovereign power and diplomatic ties with other states if you want" No, we know how absurd and ridiculous that is, so we have tried to create reasonable mechanisms for dealing with political corruption through the ballot box and removing barriers to entry for legitimate challengers. But in business, this trope is implying "You're free to abandon your career, study chemical engineering, get financing to start a lab, hire a large staff of experts, buy the machinery, run an advertising campaign, establish the customer base ..." It changes the frame of reference from abuse and incompetence on important matters to essentially shaming people for not starting multiple successful industrial capitalist enterprises in their leisure time. There needs to be more reasonable mechanisms for dealing with abuses of power then requiring such expensive and elaborate responses. Otherwise most abuses go unchallenged.

paulriddle 9y ago
> But in business, this trope is implying "You're free to abandon your career, study chemical engineering, get financing to start a lab, hire a large staff of experts, buy the machinery, run an advertising campaign, establish the customer base ..." On the other hand, this trope also implies that you have to pay for all of this, and perphaps $13 is not a good price for the drug. What is an appropriate price for this drug? You say it's abuse and incompetence, but could it be that you're wrong and it's a rational decision?
- kristopolous 9y ago
  Abuse and incompetence can be perfectly "rational" depending on what you value in life. And the point was about existing infrastructure. The drug existed, and made money, at $13, using paid for infrastructure that did other things, made other drugs as well, run by an existing staff that had other tasks. You don't buy a car to drive 1 mile or start a restaurant to serve 1 meal. Instead, an existing company should make a competitor, say Imprimis Pharmaceuticals, which did so in 2015 for $1.00 each. This is fundamentally about abusing power and position for profit and saying others should get the same power and position to stop the abuse. My only contention is that isn't reality and the world doesn't work that way.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
Consultant32452 9y ago
There are reasonable mechanisms in place. Patents expire and there's many capable manufacturers. If you think there's a need for a charity in this space, go get the funding. The difficulty of getting this funding and the scale of funding that would be required would be a strong indicator to you if whether you have reasonable expectations for existing manufacturers or not.

y_molodtsov 9y ago

As far as I remember, nobody is actually able to procude it in the US using the exact same process.