$136 Medical Drug Being Sold At $94,000 In The US & $300 (as generic) In India

[HomerJS]

Can anyone point out a couple drugs that made it to market that were not made by these greedy corporations? With all we spend on grants to universities and the sciences, there has to be at least a few.

Anyone?

I can point out one, marijuana. Glaucoma treatment, relief from chemotherapy. Should have been made available for medical use years ago but...we know the rest of the story.

 

[Mxylplyx]

There is no defending this jacked up industry in the US. The simple answer is to simply tell the lobbyist to fuck off if he walks in with that kind of price proposal, and have him ejected from a 2nd floor window for good measure.

 

[JEDIYoda]

That's OK!! I took my nephew to ER 3 weeks ago.
One pill cost $36.00 and generic was 72 cents!
The hospital charged $385.00!!!

 

[Strk]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQZ2UeOTO3I

 

[glenn1]

Shorter version of OP: I think _____ makes too much money doing _____ and I think he should only be allowed to make $______ instead.

 

[ivwshane]

Would anyone support a NASA like entity for human health? Would you be ok with the government spending money on the exploration of human health and then licensing or selling their findings?

 

[soulcougher73]

Drugs are bad mkay...

 

[CADsortaGUY]

Shorter version of OP: I think _____ makes too much money doing _____ and I think he should only be allowed to make $______ instead.

this.

I am just going into production of a small niche item. Is there a governing body I need to consult before proceeding? My cost will be <$4 in full production and I plan to sell it for >$30. I just want to know if it's ok since it's not a medical item. help???

 

[Newell Steamer]

Shorter version of OP: I think _____ makes too much money doing _____ and I think he should only be allowed to make $______ instead.

And India is doing just that.

 

[Brainonska511]

Would anyone support a NASA like entity for human health? Would you be ok with the government spending money on the exploration of human health and then licensing or selling their findings?

It's called the NIH. In both NIH labs and academic labs, people compete for grants (based on their ideas) to research their tiny portion of biology, whether it's at a basic level or a more applied level. There are also plenty of academic labs that try to spin off their ideas into small biotech companies to commercialize their research. In fact, it was a motivation for the passage of the Bayh-Dole Act - a way to encourage commercialization of ideas and discoveries found while doing research under federal grants.

 

[Newell Steamer]

this.

I am just going into production of a small niche item. Is there a governing body I need to consult before proceeding? My cost will be <$4 in full production and I plan to sell it for >$30. I just want to know if it's ok since it's not a medical item. help???

You can charge whatever you want for an 'item'.

No one is complaining over what the price of a pen, car or even food is. Because you have plenty of alternatives, which as a consumer, you should know about and be capable of figuring out.

Especially for convenience and comfort items.

 

[ivwshane]

It's called the NIH. In both NIH labs and academic labs, people compete for grants (based on their ideas) to research their tiny portion of biology, whether it's at a basic level or a more applied level. There are also plenty of academic labs that try to spin off their ideas into small biotech companies to commercialize their research. In fact, it was a motivation for the passage of the Bayh-Dole Act - a way to encourage commercialization of ideas and discoveries found while doing research under federal grants.

Lol! I did not know this. Thanks!

My next question would then be; is the NIH effective? Or can it be improved?

 

[Brainonska511]

Lol! I did not know this. Thanks!

My next question would then be; is the NIH effective? Or can it be improved?

Considering what the NIH is covering, I'd say it's doing a decent job (I have other issues with the way some of these agencies handle some issues, but that's far outside the scope of this discussion). There are a lot of questions in biology and a lot of ways to approach the problems and try and answer them, and a limited budget for grants. The 'success rate' for getting an NIH grant funded was about 18% last year, and in other years, it's been lower. There are a lot of good ideas that just die because they didn't get funded. And a lot of time lost too - writing grant proposals is a lot of work.

 

[ivwshane]

Considering what the NIH is covering, I'd say it's doing a decent job (I have other issues with the way some of these agencies handle some issues, but that's far outside the scope of this discussion). There are a lot of questions in biology and a lot of ways to approach the problems and try and answer them, and a limited budget for grants. The 'success rate' for getting an NIH grant funded was about 18% last year, and in other years, it's been lower. There are a lot of good ideas that just die because they didn't get funded. And a lot of time lost too - writing grant proposals is a lot of work.

Well there we go, now that we know what the problem is we can work on the solution. It should be pretty easy for a politician to tie funding for this into healthcare cost controls and other benefits for the public.

So who opposes more spending on this? (Group question)

 

[rudeguy]

Considering what the NIH is covering, I'd say it's doing a decent job (I have other issues with the way some of these agencies handle some issues, but that's far outside the scope of this discussion). There are a lot of questions in biology and a lot of ways to approach the problems and try and answer them, and a limited budget for grants. The 'success rate' for getting an NIH grant funded was about 18% last year, and in other years, it's been lower. There are a lot of good ideas that just die because they didn't get funded. And a lot of time lost too - writing grant proposals is a lot of work.

Really man, thanks for commenting in this thread. Its really nice having someone with your background give intelligent input on this like this. I almost feel like we should be paying you for your time...

....if you weren't already on welfare

 

[Brainonska511]

Well there we go, now that we know what the problem is we can work on the solution. It should be pretty easy for a politician to tie funding for this into healthcare cost controls and other benefits for the public.

So who opposes more spending on this? (Group question)

Considering that the NIH funds (in its own labs and in almost ever other academic institution in the US) and performs (in some of its own labs) both very basic research (eg: how do two proteins recognize each other and then do chemistry) to more applied research (eg: drug research), I don't quite see how you could tie funding into 'healthcare control costs'.

 

[CADsortaGUY]

You can charge whatever you want for an 'item'.

No one is complaining over what the price of a pen, car or even food is. Because you have plenty of alternatives, which as a consumer, you should know about and be capable of figuring out.

Especially for convenience and comfort items.

This product doesn't exist(in this format as far as I can tell) but you're suggesting that since it isn't medical(regulated) that I can set my own price and you're fine with it?

 

[Brainonska511]

Really man, thanks for commenting in this thread. Its really nice having someone with your background give intelligent input on this like this. I almost feel like we should be paying you for your time...

....if you weren't already on welfare

I wouldn't mind if someone wanted to pay me to make posts on the internet. . The fellowship I'm on from my school is decent enough for now, and I'm only months away from finishing my PhD.

 

[rudeguy]

I wouldn't mind if someone wanted to pay me to make posts on the internet. . The fellowship I'm on from my school is decent enough for now, and I'm only months away from finishing my PhD.

Congrats man!

But back on point: I pay way too much for my son's meds. He's on Novolog insulin, a very common drug that has been around forever. The cost is out of control and I hate it.

BUT I would not want to rely on the government for his health care. Since he was diagnosed 13 years ago we have gone from giving him injections with a mix of insulin that I had to come up with an algebra formula to balance with his exercise and diet. Back then he had to eat at set times, eat set amounts of carbs and even eat when he wasn't hungry. Ever try making a 4 year old eat when they aren't hungry? Its not happening. But now he eats whatever he wants, whenever he wants. He has an insulin pump with a touch screen that is smaller than his cell phone. Oh..and his blood glucose monitor syncs with his smart phone for easy pattern tracking. I don't think we would be anywhere near close to where we are if the government was in charge of that stuff.

So I pay a lot for his supplies and insulin. I hate it but I know its what is best.

 

[Newell Steamer]

This product doesn't exist(in this format as far as I can tell) but you're suggesting that since it isn't medical(regulated) that I can set my own price and you're fine with it?

Yes.

If the price is too high and no one is buying (because they don't need it to not die from a horrid disease), you will adjust the price.

If the price is too high and people are buying it, someone else will come along and create a cheaper alternative - like or near it.

This is perfectly acceptable.

Your interests in the consumer are zero - you just want the most money from them - so, you have no good intentions towards them. And that is fine since they want (as opposed to need) to give their money to you for this product, so enjoy it.

 

[ivwshane]

Considering that the NIH funds (in its own labs and in almost ever other academic institution in the US) and performs (in some of its own labs) both very basic research (eg: how do two proteins recognize each other and then do chemistry) to more applied research (eg: drug research), I don't quite see how you could tie funding into 'healthcare control costs'.

Do they not license out their findings or put limitations on how they can be used or charged? Or is this just one big institution that is government funded and allows private companies to profit off of their findings are they allowed to monopolize them?

Because if any company can use their findings then that creates market competition and that does help to reduce costs, it also allows companies to get products to market cheaper which should in turn lower the cost of the item.

 

[Brainonska511]

Do they not license out their findings or put limitations on how they can be used or charged? Or is this just one big institution that is government funded and allows private companies to profit off of their findings are they allowed to monopolize them?

Because if any company can use their findings then that creates market competition and that does help to reduce costs, it also allows companies to get products to market cheaper which should in turn lower the cost of the item.

As far as I know, if something is discovered in a government NIH lab, then the government can license out that information. However, the NIH isn't just a government institution running its own labs. It's providing the bulwark of biomedical research funding to academic labs at universities and private research institutions (eg: Scripps). If something is discovered in one of these academic lab, then the university and the PI (and post docs + students) can patent the discovery and license it out or start a company to further develop it themselves.

And some things are simply not amenable to licensing (eg: basic research, which is a sizeable chunk of NIH-funded research). Some discoveries that are important simply tell us how something works. Someone else can come along and find a drug that disrupts that process (or whatever). And even if you do find something that works in a petri dish on cells, that's a long way from finding a drug that works in animals and people.

Take for example RNAi: it was supposed to be a promising technology for treating diseases and it works great in labs. But getting it to work as a drug has been incredibly challenging and several large companies have abandoned that line of researche.

 

[ivwshane]

As far as I know, if something is discovered in a government NIH lab, then the government can license out that information. However, the NIH isn't just a government institution running its own labs. It's providing the bulwark of biomedical research funding to academic labs at universities and private research institutions (eg: Scripps). If something is discovered in one of these academic lab, then the university and the PI (and post docs + students) can patent the discovery and license it out or start a company to further develop it themselves.

And some things are simply not amenable to licensing (eg: basic research, which is a sizeable chunk of NIH-funded research). Some discoveries that are important simply tell us how something works. Someone else can come along and find a drug that disrupts that process (or whatever). And even if you do find something that works in a petri dish on cells, that's a long way from finding a drug that works in animals and people.

Take for example RNAi: it was supposed to be a promising technology for treating diseases and it works great in labs. But getting it to work as a drug has been incredibly challenging and several large companies have abandoned that line of researche.

Well, for NASA, they have a set goal and work on achieving that goal, often times problems arise and the solutions they find can be used by consumers. Does the NIH have a goal such as curing cancer? If not then it's not like NASA or what I was envisioning in my original post.

 

[OverVolt]

,,

 

[rudeguy]

/me wonders if Overvolt bothered to read the thread before sounding like an idiot.