> NZ is able to get drugs cheap because the US consumers are paying extremely high prices which cover the development costs. This is an oft-repeated canard wi

> NZ is able to get drugs cheap because the US consumers are paying extremely high prices which cover the development costs. This is an oft-repeated canard with no evidence ever presented. Moreover a pricipal reason drugs are cheap is because Pharmac aggresively substitute generics once patents expire; this is not "selfish", it is exactly how the patent system is supposed to work. Australia used to do the same until their US FTA requried that they "voluntarily" stopped using generics on patent-expired drugs. The price of medicine has soared there since.