What is the cause of certain prescription drugs to be so costly?

[To-Whose-Benefit?]

If CMS says a given drug can be reimbursed under Medicare/Medicaid at a certain rate, then that rate is what Everyone will charge.

Competitive pricing is off the table. And you’re absolutely right that those drugs are not an entitlement even though most Americans do regard them as such.

Govt subsidizing of drugs is by and large what Drove the price of many of them into the stratosphere.

[boop]

Exactly, and well stated. Don't like drug prices? Take an aspirin and enjoy. Oh, you don't like your disease? Want a treatment? That costs money. Don't like that? Tough crap.

If you like to live and NOT go under the knife, there are a lot of medicines out there that will help you.

Do you want to back to the glorious days of the 1940s when there was NO treatment for your cancer? At least it was cheap and no evil drug company was making a gasp...profit.

[To-Whose-Benefit?]

“Merck needs corporate jets to research new drugs. Endless corporate douchebaggery.”

Hehehe. Have another look at Merck workers cutting loose on their own Gardasil, the horror Perry wanted to mandate for every 11 yr old girl in Texas.

http://www.cafepharma.com/boards/showthread.php?t=476247

[statered]

Please tell me you are not using cafe pharma as a source??? LOLOLOLOLOLOL

[Strategerist]

Keep in mind that the sales of drugs that work and are actually marketed have to compensate for the billions of dollars sunk into the development of many more drugs that never make it out of testing and are never sold.

[reaganator]

Great comments and links. I’ll be spending much time going over this info. Also, I shared many of these links with my friend, I do believe it helped him to understand! Thanks to all!

[To-Whose-Benefit?]

CafePharma scuttlebutt is just one. Perhaps you’d like to offer up something more than a repeated series of LOLOLOLOL?

I’ve listed MORE than CafePharma.

If you’ve got something, ....... LOLOLOLOL doesn’t impress me.

[Melas]

It depends on the drug. As others have noted, the cost of failed pharmaceuticals has to be paid by the sale of successful ones. It is a business.

Also note that some drugs are just expensive as hell to manufacture. Low molecular weight heparin comes to mind. It’s an expensive process. Other drugs require rare and expensive ingredients that aren’t readily available.

Typically though, the more people that need the drug, the cheaper it will be. Drugs for rare diseases can run into the tens of thousands of dollar per month. Advertising actually helps lower the cost of pharmaceuticals per scrip because supply and demand is very much a reality in the pharm world. The more people that buy it, the more spread out the non-production costs become.

Also, generics aren’t the godsend some people think. The availability of generic after a period of time just means that drug companies have to charge more to make their profit before other drug companies are free to make it and sell it.

[Sea Parrot]

I was taking Plavix which was expensive. Patent has now ran out on it, got switched to generic and the cost was reduced by 75%.

[Sea Parrot]

I was taking Plavix which was expensive. Patent has now ran out on it, got switched to generic and the cost was reduced by 75%.

[sima_yi]

I spent 35 year in pharmaceutical research and development at [redacted for privacy reasons].

One day we got a letter from a patient's mom. The patient had contracted cytomegalovirus (CMV) pneumonia and was in a terminal coma. His doctors had given him maybe 36 hours to live. They (the doctors) got permission to try one of our drugs on a compassionate use basis (If I remember, it was still only in Phase II clinical trials at the time).

The upshot was they infused the drug, the patient recovered, and six weeks later had gained back thirty pounds and had returned to work. Our drug almost literally brought him back from the dead.

Here's another (different drug this time);

We got a letter from a man who had been bedridden for years with arthritis. His doctor prescribed our new drug (had just been FDA approved). He said that within three days he was up and around and cook his own meals. (Think about that for a minute.)

One further rant:

If people think drug companies are making obscene profits, they should try starting one themselves. Either they could get very rich, or they could make drugs dirt cheap. But one notices, they don't.

[To-Whose-Benefit?]

True enough. Some drugs really are life savers. Some aren’t.

http://lamplightersoftware.com/dsm.php
Put GSK’s Paxil in the search box. Numbers are only from Jan 04-Nov 09
Note the attempted and completed suicides.

Paroxetine Reported By
Adverse Reaction Cases MD CN OT PH LW NR
Suicidal Ideations 1,837 1,281 1,176 189 50 401 160
Attempted Suicides 786 592 522 121 89 151 48
Completed Suicides 921 616 474 78 34 631 51
Deaths Not From Suicide 238 141 131 21 19 4 33
Homicidal Ideations 136 53 144 28 11 22 4
Homicides 78 23 66 3 0 17 11
Hypomania/Mania 297 189 210 29 15 9 17
Heart Disease 1,149 432 1,436 1,236 595 381 48
Movement Disorders 2,273 1,207 1,416 237 129 468 163
Birth Defects 2,154 446 2,895 1,378 631 407 57
Premature Births 121 74 103 158 71 14 11
Prenatal/Neonatal Deaths 153 65 105 17 17 14 9

$3 Billion dollar Settlement with US Govt.
http://www.gsk.com/media/pressreleases/2011/2011-pressrelease-710182.htm

Obscene profits. What’s the price of your son or daughter hanging themselves?

Is that Obscene?

[dr_lew]

They charge whatever they can get away with.

Yes, and they can get away with a lot under third party payer plans, like Medco. Medco itself will give you drugs two or three times cheaper, in some cases, if you buy them directly from them rather than seeking reimbursment. I had a common prescription drug that I was getting from Walgreen's when suddenly the price more than doubled. I don't fully understand it, but it had to do with extending a prescription rather than having a long term prescription, or something of that nature. I asked Walgreen's and they told me just to get it from Medco, so I did.

[softengine]

Joseph Mercola has some thoughts on drug companies. You might not agree though ;) Hi there boop. Hope you’re well.

[familyop]

Lack of competition. Business competition against the political/regulator class is illegal.

[To-Whose-Benefit?]

http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2011/08/janet-woodcock-miss-piñata-meets-clue-stick.html

The Business Class bought the Political Regulator Class just so they wouldn’t have to compete among themselves.

And it’s going to take more than a Vegas Divorce to separate them.

[familyop]

"http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2011/08/janet-woodcock-miss-piñata-meets-clue-stick.html"

Thanks.

"The Business Class bought the Political Regulator Class just so they wouldn’t have to compete among themselves."

"And it’s going to take more than a Vegas Divorce to separate them."

And yes. The coming bond collapse and remainder of the default process should do it. It's going to hurt, but it will be worthwhile and probably the only way.

To all: avoid buying anything that you don't really need. Become more self-sufficient each month. Learn to manufacture an item of necessity as a hobby for now. Starve the licensed, approved, pedigreed, revenue-sucking, parasite B. to death.

[Former War Criminal]

Can I buy stock in J&J?

[To-Whose-Benefit?]

http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/snapshot/snapshot.asp?ticker=JNJ:US

[The Antiyuppie]

“If it wasn’t for the “ROBBER” drug companies, I am guessing your friend would be DEAD now....so $455 sounds like a bargain to me.”

I want to know why you can’t get your money back if they don’t work...this is the only industry that can get away with this.