4 ms·

interesting contrast vs the us congress, which is trying a price cap as with every build-vs-buy problem, you don't know if you'll actually be able to do it unt

interesting contrast vs the us congress, which is trying a price cap as with every build-vs-buy problem, you don't know if you'll actually be able to do it until you do it. I'm wondering what a state government has ever done that is as complex as manufacturing a medicine -- maybe road building / big water projects? if they succeed it would be a new chapter in state capacity + really exciting, especially if they are transparent about accounting and show that they're not warping the market I think biohacker group open insulin https://openinsulin.org/ https://openinsulin.org/ was founded in oakland -- they're working on lispro, the fast-acting kind in humalog the humalog plant in puerto rico cost 200-500 million dollars in the early 2000s [1]. there are 3+ million californians w/ diabetes (per diabetes.org), and it costs north of $5k per year per person, so that's like 15 billion. you don't have to dent that # much to get ROI on this. 1. https://www.pharmaceutical-technology.com/projects/eli_lilly/ https://www.pharmaceutical-technology.com/projects/eli_lilly...

UncleEntity 4y ago
> … and show that they're not warping the market Arguably the whole point of this is to warp the market by picking the winner and giving them all the business in the state. Though, chances are this will just turn into a taxpayer subsidized boondoggle like every other time the politicians pick the winner.
- mpyne 4y ago
  "Picking the winner" would imply the state forcing market participants to buy the state's insulin. As long as they're not forcing people to buy their insulin then what they're doing is more akin to setting a price floor (assuming they are selling at cost rather than subsidizing a loss). But hey if it's going to be a boondoggle then the private sector should have nothing to fear from competition here, right?
  - shapefrog 4y ago
    Actually what they are doing is pure capitalism. There is a product that can be made for $1 that is being sold for $100. They are going to make it and sell it for $2 and you can chose to buy it from their "startup" calinsulin inc for $2 or pay megacorp inc $100 for their one. Shockingly megacrop inc. are crying that it is socialism to make only $1 and that noble capitalists like them are doing it right and making $99.

UncleEntity 4y ago

> … and show that they're not warping the market Arguably the whole point of this is to warp the market by picking the winner and giving them all the business in the state. Though, chances are this will just turn into a taxpayer subsidized boondoggle like every other time the politicians pick the winner.

mpyne 4y ago
"Picking the winner" would imply the state forcing market participants to buy the state's insulin. As long as they're not forcing people to buy their insulin then what they're doing is more akin to setting a price floor (assuming they are selling at cost rather than subsidizing a loss). But hey if it's going to be a boondoggle then the private sector should have nothing to fear from competition here, right?
- shapefrog 4y ago
  Actually what they are doing is pure capitalism. There is a product that can be made for $1 that is being sold for $100. They are going to make it and sell it for $2 and you can chose to buy it from their "startup" calinsulin inc for $2 or pay megacorp inc $100 for their one. Shockingly megacrop inc. are crying that it is socialism to make only $1 and that noble capitalists like them are doing it right and making $99.