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Capitalism is a nasty, amoral system by nature. Saying some companies are good and others are bad is just scapegoating. Actually, this isn't the case. Not too
by HarryHirsch 7y ago
Capitalism is a nasty, amoral system by nature. Saying some companies are good and others are bad is just scapegoating.
Actually, this isn't the case. Not too long ago, orphan drugs were actually reasonably priced. Cuprimine went up from 500 USD to 24000 USD for a 30-day supply when Valeant bought the original manufacturer, and Daraprim went up from 13.50 USD/dose to 750 USD/dose thanks to Shkreli: https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-senate-drug-price-study-20161221-story.html https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-senate-drug-price-stu...
Something changed, but I'm not sure what.
- refurb 7y agoThose drugs are going up in price so they reflect the prices of new orphan drug launches. And they can do it since competition won’t bother to jump through FDA hoops.
- HarryHirsch 7y agojump through FDA hoops Not that again. Bioequivalence is important so that a patient can take Levothyroxin 75 μg from Ranbaxy one month and Levothyroxin 75 μg from Teva next month and notice no difference. Unfortunately, the market for orphan drugs is so small that it's impossible to recover the outlays.
- refurb 7y agoJust as an aside, once you start on a thyroid medication, it’s recommended you stick with that manufacturer. Yes, they are bioequivalent, but to the FDA that means 80%-125% of the originator. But yes, these markets where formally cheap drugs get 100x price increases are tiny markets where the outlay to get FDA approval is more than they’d make on it.