to start with, only one out of ten drugs started makes it to market, and that one, has to pay for ALL the costs associated for all ten...What is the name of the medication?
Were these “get high” pills from a dealer?
I’d suggest he pick a dealer that has less overhead.
Check the bling, the shoes, the entourage.. all those add to the price.
"Anyone who has purchased prescription medications has probably wondered why they cost so much. The media has reported on the issue of drug costs a few times with the slant usually being that drug companies are greedy, selfish, and uncaring. Therefore, it is not surprising that the public also shares this view. In their defense, the drug companies usually point to the cost of research. The media then responds with figures showing that the companies spend more on marketing than they do on research. Is the issue really as simple as greed versus the cost of research? The answer is more complicated. To shed some light onto this issue, we need to examine the process of drug development and the economics of manufacturing and selling drugs."
to start with, only one out of ten drugs started makes it to market, and that one, has to pay for ALL the costs associated for all ten...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.
The average drug developed by a major pharmaceutical company costs at least $4 billion, and it can be as much as $11 billion.
I disagree that it’s robbery.
The Evil Pharmaceutical Companies spend millions to come up with new or improved drugs. For every one on the market there are hundreds if not thousands stopped somewhere along the line. All of them are taking the best and best paid minds to formulate, research, and develop the drugs. We are talking medical researches, computer experts, pharmacists and lab techs and biological scientists and etc. Add in marketing and liability, I am amazed they cost as little as they do. After a certain number of years, generics are allowed, and the Big Pharma, which has extended billions of human lives at this point, loses most if not all of its profit potential.
Take away the opportunity to make a profit on these drugs - take away the drugs. Millions are risked to get better drugs into the market. If there is no payoff, the millions will not get risked.
I typed a query into the search bar: “Why are prescription drugs so expensive?” and got lots of responses:
http://www.rxrights.org/news-feed/why-are-prescription-drugs-so-expensive-here
This one thinks it’s the cost of advertising:
http://www.carefirst.com/pharmacy/GenericDrugs/DrugsExpensive.html
This one thinks it’s lobbyists:
http://healthmad.com/medicine/possibly-why-prescription-drugs-are-expensive-in-the-united-states/
And here’s a view from the left (Slate):
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2010/08/the_8000_pill.html
Lots of reasons, some more important than others...
doesn’t a robber force the money from you?
My tiny little pills I take for low thyroid are about $4.50 for 30 pills, a month's worth.
mmm...
Price comparison shopping is your friend.
Only thing I’ve heard of remotely that expensive is hormone treatment for advanced prostate cancer.
Erectile dysfunction (and probably other) medications sometimes include MD consultation fees in their billing. Maybe that’s the deal here.
Prices can vary greatly depending on where you buy them. Walmart pharmacy usually cheaper (sometimes a lot cheaper)
From what I read and heard there are two major reasons that drugs are expensive, and it’s NOT because the pharmaceutical companies are “greedy”.
One reason is the extensive and expensive process and clinical trials required to get FDA approval and remember out of several drug trials, one may be approved. Drugs in Europe are just as safe, but they don’t have such excessive requirements, before marketing them. I recall reading that there are some medications that have been available in Europe for many years, found to be effective, no problems, yet they cannot be approved in the US, without some extensive clinical trials, that the manufacturers can’t afford.
I think the other reason is that after a relatively short time — 12 years (?) some other company can just get the forumula and start selling generics, without having invested a dime in the development, so the original company that invested a great deal of money in the development, has to make back their investment and make some profit in a much shorter time.
The costs must include writing patient information at 5th grade levels.
I am a big fan of expensive medicines. A very close relative of mine (details omitted for privacy) is in serious need of medical assistance that does not currently exist. This relative has time, since the issue is not immediately life-threatening, but an effective treatment (probably pharmaceutical) would provide a huge improvement in quality of life. If the drug companies did not expect to make a sufficient profit to justify both the research costs and the risk that those costs would be a total loss, who would bother doing the research? I hope these companies do the research, succeed, and make an obscene profit without Obama/Pelosi/Reid stealing their hard-earned profits from them. When they pay a 50% “windfall profits” tax and your liberal friend asks why the drug costs twice what it “should”, you’ll know the answer.
One thing to consider is the market factor. Some drugs treat very rare conditions, so there is a limited demand for them. That alone would warrant a higher price, since the cost of developing the drug surely doesn’t scale with the potential demand. The drug company would have to recoup its costs by charging a higher price to a smaller number of customers.
They spent a night in the hospital with her, holding her and hoping she wouldn't die before morning when an experimental treatment was flown in from Chicago.
The drug made it on time and she was treated and out of the hospital in a week. It was a treatment that was developed by the drug company for a strain so rare that it had only been used about seven times.
He was very happy to pay $11,000 for the cure.
Merck needs corporate jets to research new drugs. Endless corporate douchebaggery.
The answer is R+D, supply vs demand and government interference. I feel sorry for your friend but what kind of law does he wish to pass?