5,000% Price Increase For Daraprim

[McLovin]

This CEO did the same thing last year for a Kidney Disease drug.

www.forbes.com/sites/stephenbrozak/2014/09/12/retrophin-gilead-and-our-healthcare-values/

Increased price from $1.50 pill to $30 (2,000% increase).


I'm trying to find information about what's happened in the past year since the price increase for the sake of being fair, but my initial gut reaction is fuck this guy.


*EDIT*

Another company did something similar (2,000% increase) and is now supposedly reversing it; http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/tb-drug-price-cycloserine-1.3237868

And, looks like we have a new breed of Vulture Capitalists;

Sorry didn't see you posted that already, but at least more people are being made aware of this.

 

[Attic]

So allow more than one manufacturer to make this drug. I'm sure many will jump into the market at well below this guys 5000% increase in price. Granting more power to central planners to regulate price is fucking stupid. They already fucked this one up to setup a situation like this. Why give them more opportunity to fuck it up more?

Fast track allowing more manufacturers. Watch as this guy crumbles under the weight of competition.

100%

 

[fskimospy]

So allow more than one manufacturer to make this drug. I'm sure many will jump into the market at well below this guys 5000% increase in price. Granting more power to central planners to regulate price is fucking stupid. They already fucked this one up to setup a situation like this. Why give them more opportunity to fuck it up more?

Fast track allowing more manufacturers. Watch as this guy crumbles under the weight of competition.

If I'm not mistaken, isn't the problem for the US that this drug is rarely used? ie: if you need it it's super vital, but very few people need it? If that's the case competition probably won't do anything because nobody will find it cost effective to compete.

This seems like more of a call for drug importation, as it's used a lot more in the 3rd world.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

So allow more than one manufacturer to make this drug. I'm sure many will jump into the market at well below this guys 5000% increase in price. Granting more power to central planners to regulate price is fucking stupid. They already fucked this one up to setup a situation like this. Why give them more opportunity to fuck it up more?

Fast track allowing more manufacturers. Watch as this guy crumbles under the weight of competition.

Problem is most stopped bothering because it was too cheap to bother making. I also agree more will start to make it now that the price is high, however don't expect it to be cheap. The first new vendor will sell it for $675.00 instead of $750 or they'll give 20% more pills for the same cost.
Adding competition doesn't erase the fact that we are being screwed by someone who essentially has a monopoly. We have processes to protect us from that behavior and it should be used.
Saying that this guy is a Captain of Industry is comparable to having the local convenience store sell its water and baby food at 50 times its normal price after a natural disaster limits the supply. That guy isn't a hero.

 

[Genx87]

If I'm not mistaken, isn't the problem for the US that this drug is rarely used? ie: if you need it it's super vital, but very few people need it? If that's the case competition probably won't do anything because nobody will find it cost effective to compete.

This seems like more of a call for drug importation, as it's used a lot more in the 3rd world.

Importation or more manufacturers. Either works for me.

 

[cliftonite]

Importation or more manufacturers. Either works for me.

Exactly we can export all our jobs so companies can save money but aren't allowed to import pills so consumers can do the same?

 

[Genx87]

Problem is most stopped bothering because it was too cheap to bother making. I also agree more will start to make it now that the price is high, however don't expect it to be cheap. The first new vendor will sell it for $675.00 instead of $750 or they'll give 20% more pills for the same cost.
Adding competition doesn't erase the fact that we are being screwed by someone who essentially has a monopoly. We have processes to protect us from that behavior and it should be used.
Saying that this guy is a Captain of Industry is comparable to having the local convenience store sell its water and baby food at 50 times its normal price after a natural disaster limits the supply. That guy isn't a hero.

At that price I expect competition to become a reality. That monopoly from what I am reading, like many monopolies is created by the state.

Will it be 13.50 again? Probably not. Will it be 750? Highly unlikely.

 

[Genx87]

Exactly we can export all our jobs so companies can save money but aren't allowed to import pills so consumers can do the same?

Our drug industry is seriously broken from a consumer perspective. It is a great example of what economic isolationism\trade barriers will do to an economy.

 

[Jaskalas]

At that price I expect competition to become a reality. That monopoly from what I am reading, like many monopolies is created by the state.

Will it be 13.50 again? Probably not. Will it be 750? Highly unlikely.

Is it legal to compete?
I'm thinking patents.
I'm thinking FDA approval process.

It could take more than a decade and hundreds of millions of dollars to be allowed to legally produce a drug that costs $1.50 to make.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Is it legal to compete?
I'm thinking patents.
I'm thinking FDA approval process.

It could take more than a decade and hundreds of millions of dollars to be allowed to legally produce a drug that costs $1.50 to make.

I'm thinking Sherman Act

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherman_Antitrust_Act

 

[fskimospy]

Our drug industry is seriously broken from a consumer perspective. It is a great example of what economic isolationism\trade barriers will do to an economy.

I 100% agree. I don't see other developed countries having this problem; I wonder how they handle drug approval?

 

[theeedude]

It's not a patent issue, this is an ancient drug. The issue is that to get a generic approved, it costs money. The volumes are too low to get a second player to go through it in the US. At a higher price, it should happen, but by the time it does, this company will have ripped off enough sick people to make it worthwhile to pull this stunt. Also, they are tightly controlling distribution to keep potential competitors from getting samples they need to do the testing for FDA approval of generic. This drug is available overseas, but I believe that FDA requires that the generic be tested against the US formulation. Anyways, we need to change the laws so that price increases are capped, and anti-competitive behavior like denying access to generic makers is penalized.

 

[theeedude]

I also think there is a good chance that this hedge fund guy is shorting big pharma on the side and is trolling the government to get it clamp down on the widespread gouging that's propping up pharma profits.

 

[mizzou]

CEO "We will ensure this product is brought to consumers who need it at a low to nothing cost"

Me "@%! you, my insurance payments are high enough as it is"

So basically, the costs will continue to spread across everyone. I hate hate hate our medical system.

 

[OutHouse]

Even if you don't need this drug or other drugs that are being hijacked like this, it will be paid for from your insurance, which to your employer is part of your compensation, so what could have been your raise will go to the drug companies instead. Enjoy getting hosed.

do insurance companies have to pay for it? if they do will the co-pay be 80%? im asking because between the drugs my wife and I take, every script has a different co-pay. some are cheap some are not cheap.

 

[OutHouse]

I lived in the US for almost a decade through the 90s and early 00s and really loved most things about it: friendly people, beautiful nature, incentives to innovate, etc. but the one thing I hated was the healthcare system as I had to fork over crazy amounts of money for health insurance as a student and then my employer did the same on my behalf when I worked a consultant in DC.

Daraprim is distributed by GlaxoSmithKline in Turkey and is free with a doctor's prescription or you can buy a 30 count box for 25 TL (~$8). It's incomprehensible to me how the Americans are letting this go on.

me too, im lean conservative on most things but on health care its my opinion it should be free or close to free. a person should not be put in the poor house due to being ill.

 

[Attic]

So with these common sense solutions that this thread has come up with, I always come back to the question of why are things the way they are? Why have the common sens solutions been barred or ignored?

I usually end up at "the state is corrupt".

I don't think we have much assurance that enhancing governments power will solve this problem. The state is what has created the problem in the first place (see other countries without this drug price problem).

 

[fskimospy]

So with these common sense solutions that this thread has come up with, I always come back to the question of why are things the way they are? Why have the common sens solutions been barred or ignored?

I usually end up at "the state is corrupt".

I don't think we have much assurance that enhancing governments power will solve this problem. The state is what has created the problem in the first place (see other countries without this drug price problem).

One thing that a lot of other countries do that we don't is use the market power of their government health services to bargain for lower prices. That sure sounds like an increase in government power, doesn't it?

 

[Genx87]

Is it legal to compete?
I'm thinking patents.
I'm thinking FDA approval process.

It could take more than a decade and hundreds of millions of dollars to be allowed to legally produce a drug that costs $1.50 to make.

FDA approval process for manufacturing or importation should be fast tracked. afaik patents on this have run out. It is a really old drug. Should be sold as generic.

 

[Linux23]

me too, im lean conservative on most things but on health care its my opinion it should be free or close to free. a person should not be put in the poor house due to being ill.

Amen on that. Why should a person have to decide on whether they'll be eating catfood until their next paycheck or to fill a prescription?

 

[Attic]

One thing that a lot of other countries do that we don't is use the market power of their government health services to bargain for lower prices. That sure sounds like an increase in government power, doesn't it?

That'd be a fine solution in a vacuum.

I'm not convinced our government in the USA operates the same as other governments. Something your argument is taking for granted.

There is a reason the USA has the current problem it does with drug pricing, i'm arguing this is a form of state sponsored/condoned/created corruption. Handing over more power to such a government would not create the solution we'd be told we'd see.



A take from Charles Hugh Smith:

One of the more remarkable characteristics of American life is our passive acceptance of systems that are so obviously completely insane. Yes, I refer to our healthcare system, a.k.a. sickcare because in America sickness is profitable and health is not, and healthcare profiteering that would be the envy of pirates and warlords everywhere is the norm.

Full article: http://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-new-shackle-of-serfdom-clinging-to.html

 

[fskimospy]

That'd be a fine solution in a vacuum.

I'm not convinced our government in the USA operates the same as other governments. Something your argument is taking for granted.

There is a reason the USA has the current problem it does with drug pricing, i'm arguing this is a form of state sponsored/condoned/created corruption. Handing over more power to such a government would not create the solution we'd be told we'd see.

I have noticed this is a common response that has the advantage of needing no facts to back it up.

1. Government is singled out as the source of some problem and reducing it is the solution.
2. It's pointed out that other countries that we're being compared to solved this problem with MORE government, not less.
3. Our government or country is declared to be somehow unique therefore the more government solution won't work.

I don't buy it.

Serious question: we have a proven solution to the problem in more government, as evidenced by other countries. (well, maybe not a total solution, but certainly a way to improve things a lot) Who cares if you're ideologically against more government? If it works, it works, right?

 

[John Connor]

So their won't ever be a generic version of this drug.

Wrong. There are alternatives. It's just this idiot bought the patent that is 60 years old and wants to recoup his investment. But this is pretty much a gross misuse of Capitalism. Now lier, blood on her hands, E-mail server queen Hillary is capitalizing on this and extending her socialist BS.

There are common sense ways to go about things.

 

[McLovin]

Wrong. There are alternatives. It's just this idiot bought the patent that is 60 years old and wants to recoup his investment. But this is pretty much a gross misuse of Capitalism. Now lier, blood on her hands, E-mail server queen Hillary is capitalizing on this and extending her socialist BS.

There are common sense ways to go about things.

Because no Republican candidate has ever and I mean EVER capitalized on an issue like this before.

This is not a partisan politics issue, this is a basic human morality issue. When does the amount of money made vs how many human lives are saved become important?

I'm curious since you are such a hard core conservative. Can give me one example of a major liberal legislation item that has been passed over the course of the last 100 years that you feel is acceptable? I promise you won't instantly burst into flames if you do, nor Jesus himself won't come off the cross and send you to hell for all eternity.

 

[Brian Stirling]

I also think there is a good chance that this hedge fund guy is shorting big pharma on the side and is trolling the government to get it clamp down on the widespread gouging that's propping up pharma profits.

Now there's a thought! It would not surprise me one bit that a hedge fund guy would pull a stunt like this to making a killing with short sales. A killing on top of the killing selling a drug at 50X the previous profitable price.


Brian