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> Many new drugs are developed in European countries. This is not something that's unique to the US. Americans just pay more for the same drugs. About 50% of
by chimeracoder 7y ago
> Many new drugs are developed in European countries. This is not something that's unique to the US. Americans just pay more for the same drugs.
About 50% of all R&D worldwide happens in the US. The US's global share has shrunk a bit, but only because China and India have grown rapidly, not because Europe has ramped up (it hasn't).
Some new drugs are developed in European countries, or by European pharmaceutical companies - that's true. But European pharmaceutical companies all make a disproportionate amount of their revenue off of sales in the US market. So Europeans quite literally benefit the most from the fact that Americans pay more for the same drugs.
- mcv 7y agoYeah, but that's America's choice to pay so much more for drugs that the rest of the world pays less for. It doesn't make the US system in any way better.
- chimeracoder 7y ago> Yeah, but that's America's choice to pay so much more for drugs that the rest of the world pays less for. It doesn't make the US system in any way better. Yes, I agree that it's a foolish choice for the US to subsidize foreign countries' healthcare in this manner. Regardless of this decision that we both agree is foolish, it means that it's misleading to compare cost-effectiveness between the US and other countries directly.
- mcv 7y agoI disagree. You can still compare. There's nothing that requires the US to subsidise corporations. They just choose to do so by not negotiating lower prices.