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

[Cubo de Sangre]

Are there other professional football leagues in the US? Seems like another barrier to entry situation.
I don't watch ball sports, but I guess if you don't consider other ball sports a close substitute it would count. In which case it looks like the NFL became a monopoly after they merged with the AFL, with on again off again monopoly status in regards to short lived attempts by startups to enter the market.

There's the arena league and they've had ups & downs. Again, I'm differentiating between competition not being possible vs. no competition existing. College ball is massively popular, but that's not professional.

The sports leagues are monopolies because of their dominant market share, they don't have to be the only leagues in their respective sports to be considered a monopoly. I believe the NFL was ruled a monopoly when Trump and the USFL sued back in the 80s and was awarded 1 dollar.

Sure, in the sense that no real competition exists those are monopolies. I only maintain that competition could exist. Unlike with drug patents. The government prevents competition by threat of force.

 

[Beechwood]

Drug companies are not charities. They make that clear more of less, though it is possible to ask for discounts.

High drug prices can be a problem for some cities as was recently highlighted on a 60 Minutes segment. High drug prices for city employees was bankrupting the city of Rockford Ill. Basic services from the city were being effected. The company Rockford hired to negotiate lower drug prices, was also the company selling some of the drugs at high prices.

60 Minutes: The Rockford File
https://drugpricinglab.org/news/60-minutes-rockford-file/

“The underlying problem we have with prescription drugs in this country is that every single actor has the potential to make money when drug prices go up.”

Dr. Bach talked with 60 Minutes’ Lesley Stahl about the financial incentives of each party involved in the supply chain of HP Acthar, a drug that increased 100,000% in 17 years. He focused on the role of the pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) and the push in prescribing HP Acthar over a cheaper alternative by physicians. His feature was part of an investigation brought on by the City of Rockford, Illinois to combat the astronomical price of this drug on the City’s health care budget.

 

[esdoornblad]

Utilities are monopolies due to not wanting to allow multiple entrants to the market. More than one company could lay piping and phone lines. Sure, the sphere is naturally limited, but there could be competition of the government allowed it.

Legal barriers support my viewpoint.

Collusion implies competition that you're conspiring with. Lobbying government authorities supports my viewpoint.

Neither Microsoft nor Google are monopolies. They're just hugely popular and successful. There are competitors currently and opportunity for market entrants.

By my count you've provided zero examples. Sorry.

You have been reading too much Ayn Rand. The idea that all monopolies are created by government is one element of the Randian orthodoxy. I know because I was a hardcore objectivist in the mid 90s and argued for this and related ideas. But, just as with religion, I eventually lost the faith. You have a proposition that goes something like: without property X (government), there would be no property Y (monopoly). But, in the sample space, there are no elements that do not have property X. So you can stick dogmatically to your proposition even when people explain very convincingly that X and Y can be uncorrelated.

 

[vengeful]

There's the arena league and they've had ups & downs. Again, I'm differentiating between competition not being possible vs. no competition existing. College ball is massively popular, but that's not professional.




Sure, in the sense that no real competition exists those are monopolies. I only maintain that competition could exist. Unlike with drug patents. The government prevents competition by threat of force.

I thought you asked for an example of a naturally occurring monopoly without the intervention of government or their laws. That's why I used the Sports leagues.

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

You have been reading too much Ayn Rand

Since I've read one book ever for school and your premise is faulty I just skipped the rest of your post. If you want to start over I'm listening.

I thought you asked for an example of a naturally occurring monopoly without the intervention of government or their laws. That's why I used the Sports leagues.

I did. And as you see if you've read the thread I walked back my position after agreeing that we can call the absence of competition a monopoly and that I was speaking in terms of competition not being possible (as opposed to difficult or costly).

 

[esdoornblad]

Since I've read one book ever for school and your premise is faulty I just skipped the rest of your post. If you want to start over I'm listening.




I did. And as you see if you've read the thread I walked back my position after agreeing that we can call the absence of competition a monopoly and that I was speaking in terms of competition not being possible (as opposed to difficult or costly).

No need to start over. I'm happy to see convergence on the issue. The definition of monopoly is simple and covers a broad range of cases; it literally means "single seller". Forgive me if I was presumptuous, but that line about monopolies only being possible through government coercion is Rand (and Greenspan) 101.

 

[KnightTemplar]

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.

 

[Plissken]

Yikes, at least Skrelli tried to say he was using his hike for further research (whether that was true or not). I mean even if Skrelli was lying about that he at least knew a price hike alone was a morally questionable which is why he tried damage control. This guy seems to just be full on in 'greed is good" mode.

There should be some sort of balance between making money for your investors and those in your company and keeping prices that are affordable to those that need to use the drugs. I'm sure there is some mathematical equation for markup that will grant profit while still being affordable to consumers.

 

[RockstarChris]

I say we take guns away from all democrats and give them universal health care where if you are a registered democrat you have to pay for all other democrats healthcare.

That would solve the whole situation right? We will even let democrats abort their babies.

 

[Kframe]

The same rationale of all capitalists: that it's the job of the firm to maximize profit, and that that is its only duty.

And, if we're talking about a maximally efficient economy and government, there's a good argument that he's right. Corporations should only be concerned with maximizing profit and market share, and the government should play the affirmative role of limiting, curbing, or foreclosing their action when it contravenes public interest.

The problem is that idiots vote for the Republican Party who say that these legal entities (corporations) will behave morally and should be deregulated to guide our country's policy trajectory. And I'm not even going to represent that Republican Party members (unlike voters) are actually stupid enough to believe that. They're not: they're just corrupt pieces of shit.

The only other option is voting for Democrats and we on the right find that just as unpalatable.

 

[Kframe]

If it weren't for regulation undermining competition then anyone could make the drugs and charge less.

You mean back in the start of the Industrial revolution when any dumbass with a beaker could mix chems and call it a drug? Yea fuck that shit. Almost everything was laced with horrifically bad substances. You take away regulation and we will return to the snake oil days.. For fucks sake, who wants that in all seriousness? Unregulated drug manufacturing? Who the hell knows what would be in the drugs?

 

[Kframe]

Barrier to entry is huge which is part of why monopolies form. The time from company inception to profit can be extensive and it is a very risky business to be in as you may simply not be successful in whatever drug you are trying to discover. Regulation (within limits, nothing can be said to be pure black and white) is good because it saves lives and should be embraced by the industry as it improves the publics trust in them.

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..

 

[Kframe]

This country needs UHC ASAP

How would UHC fix this?

 

[Kframe]

Man, you're an embarrassingly sore loser.

Can't you just admit you strung words together, not knowing what they mean, hoping that no one would notice?

I now brace for your gif-laden faux-celebration.

Umm.. He provided the exact quote of what he meant and it was not close to anything you are implying.. So what am I missing here?

 

[franklinstower]

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.

This is one of those areas in life where people will look back in disbelief that anyone allowed it let alone supported it.

 

[DespicablePeep]

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

 

[spamking]

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.

Uuuuuuh . . . where does line for whipping this dudes butt start?

 

[Neph]

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.

 

[luckyshot]

Uuuuuuh . . . where does line for whipping this dudes butt start?

1980

 

[KONG-D'SNT-TAP]

How would UHC fix this?

Well the same way old people get cheaper prices on medicine