Pharma Exec: “Moral Requirement” to Charge as Much as Possible for Drugs

[Kframe]

Well the same way old people get cheaper prices on medicine

That does not help in any way shape or form. Why are you convinced it will help?

 

[Kframe]

Patents are regulations the protect the intellectual property of investors and therefore encourage investment in that sector. Patents of course are subject to widespread abuse, but I think we can have a nuanced conversation where we can accept that not everything has to be perfect for it to still have value.

So if I am reading this right you are ok with monopolies in this instance? I didn't mention patents. I simply asked if it was possible to have good regulation for consumer protection while also helping to encourage a competitive marketplace.

 

[Neph]

So if I am reading this right you are ok with monopolies in this instance? I didn't mention patents. I simply asked if it was possible to have good regulation for consumer protection while also helping to encourage a competitive marketplace.

...what the hell are you talking about. This is your quote and my response:

How do you have good regulations and some how encourage people to get into the business by lowering the barrier to entry? Monopolies are bad..

Patents are regulations the protect the intellectual property of investors and therefore encourage investment in that sector. Patents of course are subject to widespread abuse, but I think we can have a nuanced conversation where we can accept that not everything has to be perfect for it to still have value.

I gave a perfectly good answer about how regulation can help and you determine that means I am okay with monopolies.

Whatever your agenda is, it is preventing you from actually reading my replies.

 

[ocfightfan]

He really needs to shut his hole and hire a PR specialist to do these kind of interviews. Capitalism is a powerful system and the profit motive is a powerful incentive and one of the major reasons we have as many drugs and other treatments for diseases that we do. If we kill that with socialism then it will means fewer new treatments and innovations in the future.

 

[MaxMMA]

TS is wrong about the free market bit. The reason these companies charge as much as they do is because people's insurance companies will pick up the tab. You know, the same companies that the government forces everyone to buy insurance policies from.

Same reason a trip to the doctor to even get prescribed the antibiotics costs out the ass. It's all a government backed scam.

 

[NoDak]

Capitalism is a powerful system and the profit motive is a powerful incentive and one of the major reasons we have as many drugs and other treatments for diseases that we do. If we kill that with socialism then it will means fewer new treatments and innovations in the future.

It isn't the bio-pharma corporations who actually explain the mechanisms for disease and develop therapy strategies, validate the drug targets or even identify the prototype a lot of that time. That's publicly funded research carried out at academic institutions and government labs. The IP is transferred to the private sector for development.

The infamous Pharma "R&D" costs to justify their dispicable, exorbitant price gouging and discriminatory practices consists predominantly of conducting the preclinical and clinical research, gaining regulatory approval to commercialize the NME and establishing the manufacturing, control, and distribution nodes.

The larger point is that publicly funded research - both academic and government intramural - plays a critical role in private industry's ability to 'innovate' and develop new products and processes in the first place, not only by bankrolling a large part of the invention process and eliminating the investment risk many corporations are hesistant to strongly commit because there's no guarantee it's going to be of practical use and thereby profitable, but laying the groundwork of fundamental knowledge to be applied itself.

 

[Kframe]

...what the hell are you talking about. This is your quote and my response:





I gave a perfectly good answer about how regulation can help and you determine that means I am okay with monopolies.

Whatever your agenda is, it is preventing you from actually reading my replies.

No, your reply inferred that you are in favor of monopolies in this instance. My reply was perfectly readable. You are the one mentioning patents, not me. Not once did you show anything of substance on how anything you wrote would help entry into the market. Ok good, patents protect investors, everyone knows that, but that in no way addresses my primary concern of market entry.

 

[NoDak]

My gut feeling is patents provide more for profits than they do innovation. People are naturally creative and inquisitive. Universities could be more of a breeding ground.

A 14 year term of patents from the date of issuance was more than sufficient, but then it was modified to 20 from the date of application with all kinds of extension options just for good measure.

 

[IDL]

This is not capitalism, its exactly the opposite. Patents are there to prevent competition, if we went all Rothbart there would not patent and meds would be cheaper

I think patents both prevent competition, but also encourage it.

It creates a competitive environment to research and innovate something that can lead to a lucrative patent, but once that has been achieved then of course it prevents other companies from copying it and selling it for cheaper for the given time period the patent is active.

If you were to get rid of the patent system it is not easy to just assume the outcomes would be better.

 

[NoDak]

 

[NoDak]

I know because I was a hardcore objectivist in the mid 90s

Damn, how old are you?

 

[cooks1]

Move over pharma bro... Nirmal Mulye (real name) wants to compete for front seat in Hell.

“I think it is a moral requirement to make money when you can, to sell drugs for the highest prices.”

This was his justification for raising a life saving antibiotic from $475 to $2350 a bottle.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/11/health/drug-price-hike-moral-requirement-bn/index.html

This is the logical conclusion, by the way, of the unregulated, libertarian capitalism the Right regularly argues for. Every once in a while a CEO sociopath is just autistic enough to say it like it is.

We need UHC, and we need it now.

Yep. One of the many reasons for UHC.

I have lived and worked in many countries with UHC and have advocated this for a LOONNNGG time.

I am also beginning to think that alone might not even be enough to get society where it needs to be. I think the government probably needs to outspend the medical and biopharmaceutical industry from a research standpoint. Currently just over 20% of medical research is government funded.

Companies will direct their research dollars to maximum profit yields. Treatments not cures. Living with diseases not ending them. If someone came out with a simple inexpensive cure (other than a common sense diet) for diabetes tomorrow, that act alone could cripple the pharma and medical industry. Diabetes alone is a $350 Billion industry. 10% of all healthcare costs. No for profit company in that industry is looking for a cure I promise you.

 

[esdoornblad]

Damn, how old are you?

Same age as Royce

 

[Mark Hunts FIST]

hundred percent agree. fuck this dude.
but with a UHC system, this drug may have never have been made

Look at the medical inovation of US compared to other countries. it's laughable.

there's a reason for that.
$$$$$

 

[NoDak]

Look at the high quality US output in any scientific field compared to other countries, it boasts damn near 50% of the world's top 100 research institutions. It's laughable. Massachusetts alone would be in the top six among world nations. The greatness is inarguable.

 

[TheGreatA]

Americans pump enough drugs in themselves as it is. Maybe it is best to take the pills away from them for a bit.

 

[Tiny]

Hes free to charge what he wants. capitalism should allow for a second party to produce the drug at amuch lower price. If it doesnt then something is broke and needs fixing

 

[WTF2008]

Hes free to charge what he wants. capitalism should allow for a second party to produce the drug at amuch lower price. If it doesnt then something is broke and needs fixing

I would agree with this if lobbyists didn't exist.

You ever see a pharmaceutical company exist without either board members in Congress or huge contributions?

You're a text book capitalist.
I don't mean that as a bad thing.
I mean it as text book example of what capitalism should be.

 

[Prutfis]

Jesus, your need to try to perceive everything through your ignorant love of socialism is astonishing. Quick, name every major drug/medication in history that you can developed in a socialist or Communist nation.

Social capitalism can correct this without a hint of that communist bullshit required.

Sell me a solution that doesn't end in famine and authoritarianism if you want help changing stuff like this.

Define socialist nation. Denmark produces a shitload of medical patents.

 

[WTF2008]

Americans pump enough drugs in themselves as it is. Maybe it is best to take the pills away from them for a bit.

Here's the best part. Follow me.

Lobbyists, that include big pharma, make all their money from us.

Same lobbyists pay a ton of money into senatorial campaigns as long as they vote for stuff that is financially favorable to pharmaceutical companies.

These taxpayers then go to doctors that the government recommends and pays for.

Assuming that there's nothing physically wrong with you, you are diagnosed with "depression".

You then get a prescription for some pill you need multiple times a day and you'll become addicted to.

These moneys then go back into the big pharma companies that pay the lobbyists that pay the senators that pay for the laws that keep poisoning us.

It's incredible.