Anyone who thinks that the drug companies are gouging the American people should look into how much it costs to get a drug on the market. It"™s not just making a couple little pills and stuffing them into a plastic bottle. There are years and millions (if not billions) of dollars put into research and development. These companies have to pay chemists, pharmacists, doctors, etc. a lot of money to come up with a drug. Then it needs to be tested. They pay volunteers and doctors to research these drugs for up to several years looking at safety and efficacy factors. When they come up with a compound, they get a patent for 7 years. They could be doing further research and running clinical trials for 5 years before the drug is finally approved by the FDA. Now you have 2 years to make the millions or billions of dollars back before the generics come out and make your product obsolete. These companies have a lot of overhead in addition to the cost of actually producing the drug and they have to come out with enough profit to keep investors happy. If they can"™t keep the investors happy, they"™ll pull their money out and take it elsewhere. I don"™t know how they do things in Canada but that"™s how it works around here.
Anyone who thinks that the drug companies are gouging the American people should look into how much it costs to get a drug on the market
Well i have a few ways they could cut costs.
Dont spend, make& market drugs that are not needed , dont spend billions on tv addvertizing crapo.
And last but not least dont be so greedy with profit margins expected.
It costs a lot to pay off polticans to i know,but thats ok.
I feel no need at all to make someone else wealthy- however they got there overinflated prices.
Location: The place that Harry Henderson calls home....
Posts: 1,672
RE: Before You Beat Up the Drug Companies
Yeah, sure OK...
I'll buy the associated costs with making a new drug, as I work in the field of whole animal physiology and purchase novel drugs, antibodies and surgical supplies often.
However...
Pfizer, a pharmaceutical giant, recently merged (bought out last year) Upjohn, located in Michigan. Pfizer moved its entire Animal products line to Kalamazoo, closing down it's Groton division and consolidating many offices. Most of the people were kept from both companies or offered other position overseas (a retention of ~90%)---which was great for the workforce.
A drug we did buy from Upjohn we now purchase through Pfizer. Not only is the drug harder to obtain, but the price escalated approximately 25%. Mind you, the packaging and the compound are exactly the same, the only difference Pfizer's name is now where Upjohn was once printed.
Mind explaining how that is not "price gouging" Barnes?
__________________
"The first requisite of a good citizen in this republic of ours is that he shall be able and willing to pull his own weight." Theodore Roosevelt
I dont like the fact that canadians can get the same product for less. Either the US distributers are gouging us, or the producers are not spreading the cost evenly amoung all distributers. If we have to pay for the R&D (yes, someone has to - no problem with that), then so should the canadians, among others. Granted, this is a simplified view, but something doesnt add up for me.
How much is subsidized by government.More than you think.On average, the drug industry takes 18.5 percent of their income as pure profit and spends 32 percent of their income on advertising to consumers and doctors in order to increase demand for the newest and consequently the most expensive drugs. Only 12.5 percent of the income they derive from the high prices forced on American consumers actually goes back into Research and Development.
Taxol case, where the National Institutes of Health did $484 Million worth of research to develop the drug and received only $35 Million in royalties from Bristol-Myers Squibb, the company contracted to market the drug. Bristol-Myers Squibb on the other hand made a profit of $9 Billion thanks to the work done by Federal scientists on the taxpayer"™s dime.
Are the millions in research and years of testing the reasons there are so many law suits from side affects not known from X drug until years after people have used them ?
I despise the drug industry - they are out to make money - not to help people, that much is evident.
Holy crap, I stepped into a nest of socialists
[:@]
Just because a company provides a product that makes peoples' lives better, doesn't give you the right to dictate how they do business, or for that matter tell them that they should be in operation for the "common good"
Do any of you people work in a business that produces a useful product or service that people desire? If so, why not lobby the president of your business to limit profits at a break even level, lower the cost of the product or service so that everyone can afford it, and give it away to those who cannot. While you're at it, ask for a raise, afterall, if the leader of your company has a 'social conscience,' he'll probably come around to your way of thinking.
Quote:
I despise the drug industry - they are out to make money - not to help people, that much is evident.
So is every other successful company in any other industry.
Quote:
Dont spend, make& market drugs that are not needed , dont spend billions on tv addvertizing crapo.
Yup, Ford should only make one car and offer it in any color, so long as you like black. McDonald's should be banned from advertising, because their ubiquitous marketing drives up the price of happy meals.
__________________
Obamanfreude - 1. taking pleasure from the misfortunes of an Obama supporter as he or she is adversely affected by the policies of their Dear Leader.
Before You Beat Up the Drug Companies
.
