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Pharmaceutical companies spend way more on marketing than research. If drug companies are willing to sell the exact same drug in Canada or the UK or Germany or

by cletus 8y ago

Pharmaceutical companies spend way more on marketing than research. If drug companies are willing to sell the exact same drug in Canada or the UK or Germany or France for less than a percent (in some cases) of what they sell it here for then why can't US insurance companies, hospitals and consumers buy it for that price? There's no reason other than an artificial monopoly. You'll note that I didn't say "anywhere" and that was deliberate. India, for example, has decided that drug companies largely (it's complicated) don't get monopolies from patents and thus you can buy a lot of low-cost high-quality generics in India because no drug company is getting paid. Obviously this is untenable at the global scale. And before anyone lambasts India for not respecting patents here, countries do this sort of thing all the time. In the US, for example, you can't patent nuclear technology as a matter of national security.

aantix 8y ago
>Pharmaceutical companies spend way more on marketing than research. Because who cares if you've made a breakthrough product and no one knows about it? >why can't US insurance companies, hospitals and consumers buy it for that price Because profits for future R&D has to come from somewhere? And if everyone is lined up for a discount, future R&D will suffer.
chimeracoder 8y ago
> If drug companies are willing to sell the exact same drug in Canada or the UK or Germany or France for less than a percent (in some cases) of what they sell it here for then why can't US insurance companies, hospitals and consumers buy it for that price? There's no reason other than an artificial monopoly. They're willing to do that because the US is a much larger market than any of those countries. Most pharmaceutical companies - including European companies - make the lion's share of their profits from the US market. If they couldn't, you'd certainly see the costs for essential medicines increase in European countries. > You'll note that I didn't say "anywhere" and that was deliberate. India, for example, has decided that drug companies largely (it's complicated) don't get monopolies from patents and thus you can buy a lot of low-cost high-quality generics in India because no drug company is getting paid. India has pretty solid reasons for not honoring drug patents that don't apply to the US or Europe.
- mancerayder 8y ago
  They're willing to do that because the US is a much larger market than any of those countries. Most pharmaceutical companies - including European companies - make the lion's share of their profits from the US market. If they couldn't, you'd certainly see the costs for essential medicines increase in European countries. "Willing" is a broken way to look at it. The drug prices are negotiated by the government in the single-payer systems.
  - chimeracoder 8y ago
    > "Willing" is a broken way to look at it. The drug prices are negotiated by the government in the single-payer systems. Most countries don't have single-payer systems, and even where that's the case, "negotiated" is the broken term. For essential medications, the supplier always has greater leverage than the purchaser.
pmoriarty 8y ago
"India, for example, has decided that drug companies largely (it's complicated) don't get monopolies from patents and thus you can buy a lot of low-cost high-quality generics in India because no drug company is getting paid." The main incentive for the US to enforce patents is that it is at the forefront of technology development, so many patents are held by US companies. As the lead the US has in technology lessens, as it has been predicted (and has already started) to do so for quite some time due to its poor education system and decreased funding and prioritization of science, other countries will catch up and overtake the US on the technology front, and they'll be the ones getting patents. Then it's quite possible that the US won't care quite as much about patents, and may even start "stealing" technology from other countries.

by cletus 8y ago

aantix 8y ago

>Pharmaceutical companies spend way more on marketing than research. Because who cares if you've made a breakthrough product and no one knows about it? >why can't US insurance companies, hospitals and consumers buy it for that price Because profits for future R&D has to come from somewhere? And if everyone is lined up for a discount, future R&D will suffer.

chimeracoder 8y ago

> If drug companies are willing to sell the exact same drug in Canada or the UK or Germany or France for less than a percent (in some cases) of what they sell it here for then why can't US insurance companies, hospitals and consumers buy it for that price? There's no reason other than an artificial monopoly. They're willing to do that because the US is a much larger market than any of those countries. Most pharmaceutical companies - including European companies - make the lion's share of their profits from the US market. If they couldn't, you'd certainly see the costs for essential medicines increase in European countries. > You'll note that I didn't say "anywhere" and that was deliberate. India, for example, has decided that drug companies largely (it's complicated) don't get monopolies from patents and thus you can buy a lot of low-cost high-quality generics in India because no drug company is getting paid. India has pretty solid reasons for not honoring drug patents that don't apply to the US or Europe.

mancerayder 8y ago
They're willing to do that because the US is a much larger market than any of those countries. Most pharmaceutical companies - including European companies - make the lion's share of their profits from the US market. If they couldn't, you'd certainly see the costs for essential medicines increase in European countries. "Willing" is a broken way to look at it. The drug prices are negotiated by the government in the single-payer systems.
- chimeracoder 8y ago
  > "Willing" is a broken way to look at it. The drug prices are negotiated by the government in the single-payer systems. Most countries don't have single-payer systems, and even where that's the case, "negotiated" is the broken term. For essential medications, the supplier always has greater leverage than the purchaser.

pmoriarty 8y ago

"India, for example, has decided that drug companies largely (it's complicated) don't get monopolies from patents and thus you can buy a lot of low-cost high-quality generics in India because no drug company is getting paid." The main incentive for the US to enforce patents is that it is at the forefront of technology development, so many patents are held by US companies. As the lead the US has in technology lessens, as it has been predicted (and has already started) to do so for quite some time due to its poor education system and decreased funding and prioritization of science, other countries will catch up and overtake the US on the technology front, and they'll be the ones getting patents. Then it's quite possible that the US won't care quite as much about patents, and may even start "stealing" technology from other countries.