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The Washingtonian article is very sad, but I'm not sure I buy Tabarrok's take on it. He once again harps on GMP regulations, but doesn't Europe have similar re
by kvb 13y ago
The Washingtonian article is very sad, but I'm not sure I buy Tabarrok's take on it. He once again harps on GMP regulations, but doesn't Europe have similar regulations? And the very first page of the Washingtonian article mentions a case where 9 patients died because a substitute PN was contaminated - to what extent would reducing oversight lead to even more such incidents? I'm open to the idea that FDA regulations are an issue but it hardly seems like that's the most pressing problem, given all of the other issues with our healthcare system.
- jjoonathan 13y ago> doesn't Europe have similar regulations The crucial difference is that Europe has primarily single-payer systems. They simply don't need a black market for legitimate drugs: even if you're poor, you can get them from the doctor. To be fair, the government won't pay for any drug -- it decides how much it is willing to pay based on efficacy, and some drugs get priced out (arguably because they deserve to get priced out).
- kvb 13y agoThat's certainly an important difference in general, but I don't see how it's relevant to this article. Here, the issue is not that people are priced out, it's that important, cheap drugs are underproduced.