Medicine cost debate

[Kosmik]

So I was reading this article this morning -> http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...falling-for-a-superstar-gilead-drug-in-india . In short a company is selling the same drug for $1000 in the states but has allowed generic licensing in India where the drug costs $4. Ignoring laws etc aside, it makes no sense to me morally that a drug can be manufactured and sold at a profit on volume in one region of the world and in another, priced out of most people's reach. What's even worse is that the drug is what I would term a critical one ie: illness prevention or resolution. How, as basic human beings is this allowed?

Don't get me wrong on the R&D side, I can understand costs involved and the need to recoup those costs but there must be a better model for a life saving drug to recoup those investments.

 

[roligov]

Yeah it's crazy. Even though the cheaper variants are generics, there are no authorized generics in USA and the patent looks like it expires in 13 years or so. People are actually travelling to 3rd world countries just to buy the meds.

 

[Kosmik]

Yeah it's crazy. Even though the cheaper variants are generics, there are no authorized generics in USA and the patent looks like it expires in 13 years or so. People are actually travelling to 3rd world countries just to buy the meds.

I'd love the hear the actual reasoning from someone in the industry if they are on the forum. Meds are also as far as I'm aware, one of the highly restricted items that can be shipped country to country. Nevermind the illegal recreational drugs but normal drug trade must be booming as well.

 

[roligov]

This guy posted and detailed his experience on travelling to India to source Harvoni/Sofosbuvir/Daclatasvir: http://hepatitisctreatment.homestead.com/

He also talks about ordering online and having DHL or Fedex deliver, as long as you have a prescription.

 

[Whatzmyname]

Medicine prices in the US are crazy. I actually feel sorry for them. They are all being fleeced by pharmaceutical companies. I have family there and we compare prices of medicines. Even for an antibiotic eye ointment their prices was x15 more than ours. If you get cancer in the US then you are really screwed as their medicine and treatment is so overpriced that your health insurance is maxed out in no time. A good friend of mine has brain cancer and posts his payment receipt on Facebook every time he has chemo. I was so shocked.

 

[Ockie]

That is a insane cost difference. How does the prices compare then for example between the US and Canada seeing that Canada has universal health?

Just out of interest. I watched a documentary the other day on drugs, and they went to the GSK main R&D facility. They showed this massive mechanized library of just chemical compounds that they have collected from plants etc. They then basically just select compounds randomly from the library and test it against all kinds of bacteria, viruses etc and see what happens. Pretty much like a lucky draw. It is interesting to see that even though our technology is very advanced these days, we still pretty much are scrambling in the dark looking for new medicines.