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> A pill isnt a physical good, its a formula. You are paying for the intellectual property not the manufacture. It's not like the pills are substantially cheap
by chimeracoder 7y ago
> A pill isnt a physical good, its a formula. You are paying for the intellectual property not the manufacture. It's not like the pills are substantially cheaper to manufacture in Canada, its different licensing costs.
This thread is talking about reimportation of brand-name pharmaceuticals. In many of these cases, it's the same manufacturer producing the same physical goods at the same factory and selling them for two different prices on different sides of the border.
This is not an "intellectual property" issue; it's a trade issue.
- basch 7y agoIt's an intellectual property issue, they have the exclusive rights to produce the pill. It is illegal for any other company to make the same product. That exclusivity lets them set the price. Why do you have "ip" in quotes, its literally the single most important thing in this conversation. Trade is a way to circumvent the pricing set, it doesn't address the underlying exclusivity.
- chimeracoder 7y ago> It's an intellectual property issue, they have the exclusive rights to produce the pill. It is illegal for any other company to make the same product. That exclusivity lets them set the price. The exclusivity isn't what lets them maintain different prices in different countries, which is the problem at hand. Those different prices are only feasible because of artificial trade barriers, as evidenced by the fact that these price differences also occur with generic medications, which are not subject to exclusivity protections. > Why do you have "ip" in quotes, its literally the single most important thing in this conversation. Because "intellectual property" is a highly controversial term which conflates three complete unrelated categories of law that each have different origins and underlying justifications.