Generic Drug Rip Off

Life Extension Foundation Magazine ^ | August 2009 | William Faloon

[Aria]

I did everything I could—including risking life in prison. Back in the 1980s-1990s, the Life Extension Foundation® crusaded to enlighten Americans about the economic ruination that would occur if this country’s corrupt drug regulatory structure was not abolished. At the behest of pharmaceutical interests, the FDA brutally retaliated against us.

What I am about to divulge is a shocking revelation about why prescription drugs cost so much. I want to remind readers what happens when an apathetic public allows archaic government regulations to rule the marketplace.

In the 1940s, Argentina was the ninth wealthiest country in the world. At one point it was richer than France and boasted a higher standard of living than Canada. It was considered one of the best countries in which to live.1

After an endless series of reckless governmental actions including uncontrolled borrowing and economic mismanagement, Argentina’s standard of living ranking has plummeted to 46th.2 If you had money in an Argentinean bank in 1999, it vanished. If you owned Argentinean government bonds, you lost most of your principal as the central government defaulted on its obligations.

The reason I mention Argentina is that its economic collapse has similarities to what the United States is facing.

Misguided and corrupt government policies, combined with citizen apathy allowed financial ruination to happen in Argentina. We in the United States are not immune to the same calamity.

If what I expose in this article does not motivate citizens to take action, I don’t know what will. It is beyond my comprehension that the common-sense free market solution I propose will be ignored by the American citizenry.

Everything Life Extension® predicted about the health care cost crisis is happening before our eyes. Major corporations, individuals, and the government are being bankrupted by out-of-control medical costs. more at link...

[Aria]

This explains part of the reason Medicare is going bankrupt. Check out article for chart showing current drug prices and what they would be under a free market system. This must be why drugs are so much cheaper in Mexico. The pharmaceutical lobbyists have gotten their money's worth at our expense and apparently our politicians don't have the guts to really fix a major problem.

[freekitty]

Another shocke is the Japanese model. We have been doing this for sometime; and it doesn’t work.

[freekitty]

Should be shocker and I am referring to capitalism.

[RebelTXRose]

I remember when Argentina went under - Their middle class was much like ours. That’s scary.

Free market is the answer to so much - it’s BASIC economics! Why can’t the idiots in DC understand this?
I guess idiots just don’t understand anything!

[the long march]

No it doesn’t. This guy was pushing vitamins and other things way back when.

US drug manufacturers ( love em or hate em) still provide better research and manufacturing than any other. Research to find new “ miracle” cures and vaccinations is expensive. Try and by anything in Canada “off fomulary” and you can’t do it. Fact is our companies do a pretty darned good job

[Aria]

Well from what I understand he’s talking about generics...after the patents have run out and these prices are higher then they’d be in a free market. The charts in the article are interesting.

Yes, I know they sell supplements, I buy some of them, but I think he has valid points. Today on FOX they were discussing reducing the length of patents to reduce costs.

Of course the drug companies should be able to recoup profit after the billions they spend on research but apparently they have room to give since they already went to the WH and offered deals.

[KarlInOhio]

The reason why there are price differentials is that most drugs have a huge upfront R&D expense plus a relatively small incremental cost per pill once you set up a manufacturing line. All the pharma company has to do is to cover the incremental manufacturing cost to sell their pills to Mexico, Canada or Europe just so long as they can get someone to pick up the R&D cost. That sucker is us. I wish there was an easy way to spread those costs more equally so the rest of the world weren't free riders on US drug buyers.

[the long march]

As with all patents they are there to protect the original discoverers so they can PROFIT from their inventions. When you resuce length of time you tend to reduce overall profitability hence basic research and development.

Quit trying to find ‘big corporations” to blame for the cost of ehalth care. things are expensive due to a)trial lawyers who sue anything that exists and b) government that writes rules impossible to follow

[Aria]

I’d like to blame trial lawyers and have and will but someone pointed out to me that in Texas where supposedly the trial lawyers have been reigned in the health costs only went down something like 3%. Not that 3% isn’t important but it wasn’t as much as I thought it’d be.

I believe that there must be a lot of solutions to the problems with health care costs other than what the rats have proposed but immoral rationing and socking it to the doctors again through a gvt run system aren’t a decent solution.

[allmendream]

Please refer to the Constitution, Article I, Section 8, clause 8.

Also, the problem of pharma companies charging more in America is because socialist nations like Canada say “either you only charge us some % over what it costs to make the drug or we will NOT respect your intellectual property and just make our own ‘generic’”; thus the majority of the R&D that went into the drug has to be recovered from American consumers.

It is easy for socialist swine to not respect intellectual property as they produce little of any value.

[Cyman]

I had a biochemistry teacher in medical school tell me that he could almost instantly cure the world’s hunger and nutrition problem if he could just bottle up American’s pee and ship it to the third world. He laughed at the use of vitamins and supplements in American foods that when eaten in their normal form provided all the nutrients, minerals and vitamins without resorting to “fortifying”. His position was that the greatest thieves in the world were the companies manufacturing these vitamins and supplements to the western world.

Never heard of the author or the site of this article but it seems like another “food supplement” site that hides behind it’s disclaimer to market useless vitamins and supplements as a magic bullet cure for what ever ails you. I find it very interesting that when describing Proscar, he cites medical studies as pointing to the importance of the drug in reducing prostate disease, something that he can’t do regarding his companies products. If he truly does not want to contribute to the health care “crisis”, he needs to trash his worthless vitamins and supplements and pursue his free marketplace generic drugs.

[the long march]

Not true. Moreover more doctors are moving in to practise in Texas. Still does nothing about the other large portion of health care costs -—government mandates.

California limited malpractise awards a number of years ago. EVEN with the number of illegals we handle AND all of the mandates our health care costs run 8-10% below the average of the rest of the nation.

Allow doctors to practise the art of medicine, get the givernment out of the business of mandating particular types of care and treatments and you will see a drop in pricing

[Aria]

So Vitamin D isn’t worth taking? My doctor disagrees.

I know lots of people like to say that vitamins aren’t worth taking....and I’m sure some of them are ridiculous, like the recent Acacia berry craze but don’t think that’s true for everything.

[Aria]

The lib who told me about the 3% in Tx referenced an article that supported that number but glad to hear that CA has a 10% advantage. If I were a Dr I’d go to any state that lowered my malpractice insurance rate and allowed me to do my job. I’m in Oregon and I’m sure you’ve heard about our public system - horrible.

I agree with getting gvt out of the way - this health care bill is a nightmare.
This is such a complex issue but for sure socializing medicine is the wrong answer.

[the long march]

Be careful when you read the stats frequently what happens is that the number they reference is the cost of malpractise INSURANCE for the docs not the overall effect on medical costs. What tends to happen when your little keester isn’t being sued for everything on the earth is the following a) you use your training and expertise to come to a most likely conclusion b) you ask yourself if a test will tell you anything you don’t already know c)if not then you go ahead and treat. Look fact is that all too frequently ( something like 30% of the time) docs order tests to cover themselves should someone sue. This is not the way to get good medical care and it is not a way to contain costs.

Prohibit illegals from getting free care ( if they want to pay out of pocket 100% fine)

End government mandates for treatments

Make tort reform happen

do that an dI guarantee our health care costs will go down

[Aria]

You may find this interesting:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2315956/posts

[the long march]

Oh yeah I do n’t disagree. These guys KNOW which side the bread is buttered on. TODAY the patent protections have an end to them -— under Ocare the companies who signed on early ( and not all are in that group) will be able to keep prices high FOREVER. Just another reason to hate Ocare

[Reeses]

get someone to pick up the R&D cost

In America, lawyers run the pharma companies. It's more a government regulated legal industry than a medical one. The cost to manufacture a drug is pennies, but in this country the legal and government overhead is horrendous. Costs could be dramatically lowered by reducing regulation down to Mexico's level, but that's probably not a popular idea. There is room for reform and great cost savings though. It's just the entrenched lawyers and government regulators will strongly fight losing any of their livelihood.