High price of drugs because... they can

[question everything]

In the past few years. we've seen new drugs, for Hepatitis, MS and Cystic Fibrosis reaching the stratosphere. The last one, for Cystic Fibrosis, clocking at $300,000 a year!

But now we see cheaper drugs jumping, too.

One, Tuberculosis drug price jumps 2,000%, shocks doctors

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141213396

Another, Drug Goes From $13.50 a Tablet to $750, Overnight

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141212028

(this last one, with a smarmy punk CEO..)

So I wonder whether under these circumstances, a patent protection can be removed, so that generic can compete..

[PoliticAverse]

1. The Government might also purchase the patent via eminent domain and let anyone make the drug.

The question would be what the "just compensation" would be.

[ljm2002]

2. Don't forget our government's complicity...

...by making it unlawful for the government itself to negotiate drug prices, for one; and by making it unlawful for citizens to buy from other countries like Canada -- purportedly for "safety" considerations, even though the drugs often are the very same ones, manufactured by the very same companies.

It's disgraceful. This country has become a Ferengi culture, where absolutely everything has a price, and where cutthroat practices are admired while caring for one another is considered weakness.

Links:

re: negotiating drug prices:

https://www.ncpssm.org/PublicPolicy/Medicare/Documents/ArticleID/1138/Issue-Brief-Medicare-Drug-Negotiation-and-Rebates

re: buying drugs from Canada:

http://www.elderlawanswers.com/buying-prescription-drugs-from-canada-legal-or-illegal-1204

(this article notes that, while it is still illegal, federal authorities exercise "enforcement discretion&quot

[question everything]

3. This is part of the problem

the negotiation part would refer only to government programs like Medicare. Not sure about Medicaid. But Hepatitis and MS and CF affect young people. Though I know that a court - don't remember whether it was in Oklahoma or another state - ordered Medicaid to pay for that CF expensive drug.

[Avalux]

4. Regulations are needed pronto. It's very clever what they're doing.

The $13.50 anti-fungal has been around for decades and no longer has a patent so that's irrelevant in this case. It also doesn't have any competition; so a generic drug company who may want to formulate a competitor will need years to get it out on the market. During that time, the smarmy punk CEO rakes in the dough because he has the only drug for people who need it.

It's the worst possible form of capitalism, preying on people who are ill and desperate, yet there's nothing stopping these companies from doing it. Makes me so angry.