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In reply to the discussion: this is the pill that cures Hepatitis C. This is that pill on big Pharma [View all]True Earthling
(832 posts)56. Medicare does NOT pay retail for prescription drugs...
There is no direct negotiation but there is a provision for Medicare to obtain drugs at prices lower than retail. Medicare never pays more than the average U.S. wholesale price...the solution is to change the rule to where Medicare never pays more than the worldwide average wholesale price....
Let the Market Control Pharmaceutical Costs
http://www.minyanville.com/businessmarkets/articles/pharmaceutical-pricing-congress-democrats-republicans-pharmaceutical/9/30/2010/id/30328#ixzz4Ht4jEFUG
Congress has directed CMS to never reimburse more than the average wholesale price available in the US marketplace. This policy is a subtle way around the negotiation prohibition because it essentially lets CMS piggyback on price breaks negotiated by private health-care providers, wholesalers, and insurers. CMS can get quite feisty when wielding this limited cost control club, taking drugmakers to court for fraud if they try to hide price breaks given to private parties. This system allows the US government to not pay "over retail," which pretty much everyone can agree is a wise protection of taxpayer dollars.
This system has one certain side effect. US drug consumers get the shaft. The price for any given drug is almost always higher in the US than it is in other developed economies. And it's not just the price. To get their blood cancer drug Velcade approved in the UK, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) had to agree that it would rebate the government the cost of the drug if Velcade didn't improve the patient's condition.
Everyone raise their hand if they'd like that money-back guarantee on their own health-care expenditures!
Cost controls are more broadly used overseas. That's a fact. The effect of this on American consumers is we bear more than our fair share of drug company profits and R&D expense. When Pfizer (PFE) blew $800 million on its torcetrapib failure, someone had to pay for that. Americans, who pay more for a Lipitor pill than nearly anyone else in the world, paid for more of that R&D failure than anyone.
It should be noted that drug manufacturers go into these negotiations and cut their prices more or less willingly. Sure, some countries threaten to invalidate a patent if a drugmaker doesn't play ball, but to actually do so would ensnare the country in international patent and trade litigation and make them a pariah nation. Drug companies make deals like the makers of Velcade did with the UK because they know they can make up the difference in the US marketplace.
The solution to the unfair burden American consumers bear is pretty simple. In fact, Congress already thought of the mechanism and CMS has the procedures in place to make it workable.
All Congress needs to do is tweak its instructions to CMS. Instead of directing CMS to never reimburse more than the average price in the US marketplace, direct CMS to never reimburse more than the average price in the worldwide marketplace. If a drug company wants to cut a sweetheart deal with another country, that's fine. They just have to cut the same sweetheart deal here in the US.
This system has one certain side effect. US drug consumers get the shaft. The price for any given drug is almost always higher in the US than it is in other developed economies. And it's not just the price. To get their blood cancer drug Velcade approved in the UK, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) had to agree that it would rebate the government the cost of the drug if Velcade didn't improve the patient's condition.
Everyone raise their hand if they'd like that money-back guarantee on their own health-care expenditures!
Cost controls are more broadly used overseas. That's a fact. The effect of this on American consumers is we bear more than our fair share of drug company profits and R&D expense. When Pfizer (PFE) blew $800 million on its torcetrapib failure, someone had to pay for that. Americans, who pay more for a Lipitor pill than nearly anyone else in the world, paid for more of that R&D failure than anyone.
It should be noted that drug manufacturers go into these negotiations and cut their prices more or less willingly. Sure, some countries threaten to invalidate a patent if a drugmaker doesn't play ball, but to actually do so would ensnare the country in international patent and trade litigation and make them a pariah nation. Drug companies make deals like the makers of Velcade did with the UK because they know they can make up the difference in the US marketplace.
The solution to the unfair burden American consumers bear is pretty simple. In fact, Congress already thought of the mechanism and CMS has the procedures in place to make it workable.
All Congress needs to do is tweak its instructions to CMS. Instead of directing CMS to never reimburse more than the average price in the US marketplace, direct CMS to never reimburse more than the average price in the worldwide marketplace. If a drug company wants to cut a sweetheart deal with another country, that's fine. They just have to cut the same sweetheart deal here in the US.
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this is the pill that cures Hepatitis C. This is that pill on big Pharma [View all]
cali
Aug 2016
OP
My goodness, you could have one helluva vacation in India and still come out ahead.
MADem
Aug 2016
#1
Welcome to the modern world, where smuggling medicine is more profitable than...
Lancero
Aug 2016
#3
Hillary spoke to that recently when she pointed out that a lot of our tax money ....
Hekate
Aug 2016
#4
Don't forget the sales reps who spring perks and freebies onto the doctors.
TheBlackAdder
Aug 2016
#8
Alternet.org had an article about this. $4 per tablet most elsewhere, but $1000 in the US.
4lbs
Aug 2016
#9
The outrage is the massive disparity in cost for treatment in the US versus the world.
4lbs
Aug 2016
#22
What are your sources? "biotech firms" are for profit entities..not sure why it's mixed in
True Earthling
Aug 2016
#70
Yeah, no. I have enough doctor (and doctor students) friends to know that's bullshit.
X_Digger
Aug 2016
#44
Do you know that just one medicare program pays 10 billion per year to teaching hospitals?
Cicada
Aug 2016
#88
For that kind of money, why not go to India, rent a suite at a fine hotel for five hundred bucks a
MADem
Aug 2016
#42
Gilead, the company marketing Harvoni, didn't develop it. They bought the company that did,
NBachers
Aug 2016
#71
The natural alternative to pharmaceutical cure of hep c is dying of multiple organ failure
LeftyMom
Aug 2016
#16
Isn't that the truth. Pharmaceutical companies go through extensive testing, not only to
still_one
Aug 2016
#60
the bulk of their costs are paid for by the pharma resources. Grant money plays a small part...
yawnmaster
Aug 2016
#24
How is it Americans are expected to pay one THOUSAND times more than non-Americans?
Hekate
Aug 2016
#31
Not really..Drug prices are not "charged" by the drug company to each country..prices are negotiated
True Earthling
Aug 2016
#79
Pharma pays for more than 98% of it's research..the NIH contributes less than 2%
True Earthling
Aug 2016
#78
Hepatitis C treatment with Soldavi includes either ribavirin and/or peg interferon.
Avalux
Aug 2016
#46
India is notorious for using patent invalidation to threaten drug co's to lower prices
True Earthling
Aug 2016
#52
no it isn't the list price There are mechanisms to provide it for people who cannot
still_one
Aug 2016
#62
I wonder if the varies pharmaceutical companies will still be able to get away with that
cstanleytech
Aug 2016
#72