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>The US has lower generic prices that most of the EU due to fierce competition for the US market This is not the case. From direct person experience I can att

>The US has lower generic prices that most of the EU due to fierce competition for the US market This is not the case. From direct person experience I can attest that: Betaserc is 1/25 the price in Spain as the generic in the US Nebivolol is 1/10 Lovastatin is 1/5 Enalapril is 1/2

zo1 12y ago
I quote the parent poster: "The US has lower generic prices that most of the EU" Emphasis mine. Perhaps, if they were consistently "cheaper" than the US, fine. But your singular example doesn't quite contradict the person you're responding to. So it actually is the case, unless you prove your findings for other EU countries. I have no idea if that's the case, just pointing out the obvious flaw in your logic. Perhaps a little too-quick to look for contradictions if you disagree with the general point?
- whybroke 12y ago
  Quite correct: I have no idea what the price is in Lichtenstein. Nor have I compared the price of every drug manufactured. Nor even a majority of those thousands. I have, however bought a dozen or so different drugs and have done so in France, Italy, Croatia, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands. All of which were tiny fraction of the price in the US. So given two hypothesis: the US is cheaper vs the EU is cheaper, and a bunch of data points all pointing that same way, a little bit of Bayesian statistics shows us which hypothesis is over overwhelmingly more likely doesn't it? We can agree to use Bayesian statistics even though there's no entry in the conservapedia can't we? Contrast, for example, with the parent poster's hypothesis which comes form no more data than a.m. radio infotainment, I think there's only one rational tentative conclusion don't you?
  - refurb 12y ago
    I'd take a Commonwealth Fund analysis over your "Bayesian statistical analysis". http://managinghealthcarecosts.blogspot.com/2012/03/united-states-and-world-prices-of.html http://managinghealthcarecosts.blogspot.com/2012/03/united-s...
    - whybroke 12y ago
      Ah yes that is obviously much better than extrapolating from anecdotes. But of the few European countries compared, at least two have deregulated pricing for generics which is exactly the point we're talking about isn't it? The others may or may not (I don't know). But why were Norway, Sweden and Denmark omitted from that comparison when they are in every other comparison on the original page? It's a strange omission because generics in Scandinavia are lower than western Europe. Inside of Europe, countries that have deregulated their generics simply have higher prices.
refurb 12y ago
I have no doubt there are examples of cheaper generics in the EU than US, but overall, US generics are cheaper.[1] [1]http://www.gabionline.net/Reports/Are-generic-medicines-too-expensive-in-Europe http://www.gabionline.net/Reports/Are-generic-medicines-too-...
- asgard1024 12y ago
  Where in the article are the US prices compared to EU prices? It seems that it compares EU prices to production prices (in India and China). It also states: "We also see that in countries that have free market pricing of medicines (where companies can decide for themselves the price of a new medicine), such as Germany, the price of generic medicines tend to be higher than in countries which regulate medicine prices." This seems to contradict the claim as well.
  - refurb 12y ago
    Here is the article I was thinking of.... http://managinghealthcarecosts.blogspot.com/2012/03/united-states-and-world-prices-of.html http://managinghealthcarecosts.blogspot.com/2012/03/united-s... The US payers more for brand name drugs, but less than nearly every other OECD country (with the exception of NZ).

zo1 12y ago

I quote the parent poster: "The US has lower generic prices that most of the EU" Emphasis mine. Perhaps, if they were consistently "cheaper" than the US, fine. But your singular example doesn't quite contradict the person you're responding to. So it actually is the case, unless you prove your findings for other EU countries. I have no idea if that's the case, just pointing out the obvious flaw in your logic. Perhaps a little too-quick to look for contradictions if you disagree with the general point?

whybroke 12y ago
Quite correct: I have no idea what the price is in Lichtenstein. Nor have I compared the price of every drug manufactured. Nor even a majority of those thousands. I have, however bought a dozen or so different drugs and have done so in France, Italy, Croatia, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands. All of which were tiny fraction of the price in the US. So given two hypothesis: the US is cheaper vs the EU is cheaper, and a bunch of data points all pointing that same way, a little bit of Bayesian statistics shows us which hypothesis is over overwhelmingly more likely doesn't it? We can agree to use Bayesian statistics even though there's no entry in the conservapedia can't we? Contrast, for example, with the parent poster's hypothesis which comes form no more data than a.m. radio infotainment, I think there's only one rational tentative conclusion don't you?
- refurb 12y ago
  I'd take a Commonwealth Fund analysis over your "Bayesian statistical analysis". http://managinghealthcarecosts.blogspot.com/2012/03/united-states-and-world-prices-of.html http://managinghealthcarecosts.blogspot.com/2012/03/united-s...
  - whybroke 12y ago
    Ah yes that is obviously much better than extrapolating from anecdotes. But of the few European countries compared, at least two have deregulated pricing for generics which is exactly the point we're talking about isn't it? The others may or may not (I don't know). But why were Norway, Sweden and Denmark omitted from that comparison when they are in every other comparison on the original page? It's a strange omission because generics in Scandinavia are lower than western Europe. Inside of Europe, countries that have deregulated their generics simply have higher prices.

refurb 12y ago

I have no doubt there are examples of cheaper generics in the EU than US, but overall, US generics are cheaper.[1] [1]http://www.gabionline.net/Reports/Are-generic-medicines-too-expensive-in-Europe http://www.gabionline.net/Reports/Are-generic-medicines-too-...

asgard1024 12y ago
Where in the article are the US prices compared to EU prices? It seems that it compares EU prices to production prices (in India and China). It also states: "We also see that in countries that have free market pricing of medicines (where companies can decide for themselves the price of a new medicine), such as Germany, the price of generic medicines tend to be higher than in countries which regulate medicine prices." This seems to contradict the claim as well.
- refurb 12y ago
  Here is the article I was thinking of.... http://managinghealthcarecosts.blogspot.com/2012/03/united-states-and-world-prices-of.html http://managinghealthcarecosts.blogspot.com/2012/03/united-s... The US payers more for brand name drugs, but less than nearly every other OECD country (with the exception of NZ).