Posted on 08/19/2008 9:27:33 PM PDT by neverdem
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Of course, one problem has always been that the US publicly funds Research, while other countries use that for their Development, where the money is made.
As an aside, I wish they would stop making some drugs in other countries, especially Red China.
I called the pharmacy today, and will ask my doctor to write me a prescription for the Made in USA brand.
Ping
Marcia Angell is your classic limosine liberal who hasn't a clue how a free market operates and how it benefits hundreds of millions of people.
18% of revenues are spent on R&D, but only 1 in 5000 new compounds becomes an approved drug?
Then, mix in Leftside political acrimony with the propensity of foreign countries to steal drug patents for “humanitarian” reasons, and investors of the future may have no choice but to pull their risk capital off the table.
Besides limiting legal liability for drugs that harm some patients, there seems to be no clear solution to the problem.
The issue of NIH research is utterly bogus.
If taxpayer funding for medical R&D ended tomorrow, American citizens would open their wallets and fund every university research program right back to maximum.
Why?
Because all of us want our families to live long and healthy lives.
Chicago Annenberg Challenge Shutdown? (Another Obama Coverup?)
Fear the Government That Fears Your Gun
From time to time, Ill ping on noteworthy articles about politics, foreign and military affairs. FReepmail me if you want on or off my list.
An additional point: while all industries change, the pharma industry has undergone a sea change in the last dozen or so years, in that it has gone from a primary care focus (family practitioners, internists, pediatricians) to specialty focus. Why? Well, many of the common diseases that primary care docs treat (high blood pressure, chronic lung disease, diabetes, acute infections like ear and bronchial and throat) can be handled quite nicely by drugs originally developed by big pharma, but are now off-patent and thus available generically. The profit is out.
And while I am not saying that increased improvement in these areas cannot occur, to get insurance and managed care and/or Medicaid/Medicare to agree to pay for new drugs is very difficult. If a generic antihypertensive works for high blood pressure and costs 8 cents/day, why would managed care pay for a new drug costing 3 dollars/day that is only a bit better?
The future is in expensive oncology drugs not primary care drugs. Things will get even more interesting in the next 5 years...
Wrong. I would fight that. Universities are full of cash. Most of them have enough money in their trust funds to allow students to go free for the next ten decades.
I have a problem with advertising drugs on TV to get people to badger their doctors about getting prescriptions for the latest and greatest. The doctor and pharmacist should be the ones to know what’s best for the patient based on their education.
I don't blame them. As a consumer, I wouldn't want to pay an extortionate rate for something that only worked a *bit* better. It ISN'T worth the extra cost.
Thanks for the ping, bfl
As they told me in medical school, if a side effect only happens 3% of the time, it sounds pretty good; but if it happens to you, it's 100%.
I know there are exceptions and that medicines can lose their effectiveness if used long term, like anti-histamines.
My main objection is the aggressive marketing to the consumer. Consumers do have the right to know what’s out there, but then the situation arises where people are going to want something just because....
The other problem is that instead of managing their health with proper diet and exercise and sleep, they demand the medicine that’s promoted as a cure all.
It would help if the doctors spent a little more time discussing the options and their benefits and side effects and working with the patient instead of just telling them what to do as if they were little kids.
Thanks for the ping!
I like the FDA standards
http://www.nyu.edu/classes/jaeger/thalidomide.htm
The problem is not humanitarian aid to third world countries. Its the inadvertant aid to first world Europe and Canada whose systems of socialized medicine negotiate low costs with our drug companies.
I LOVE your tagline and thank you for such an urgent reminder! I pray every time I see one of your posts.
Thanks for the ping.
“I pray every time I see one of your posts.”
THANK you, and in that case I ought to post more often!
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