Posted on 09/22/2006 7:16:58 PM PDT by Wolfie
I have been buying prescription drugs for 30 years from pharmacies in Europe. I have never lost a shipment! Most packages get cut open by Customs and then are taped back up. Yes, I have saved a mint. Most of the drugs are manufactured in Europe. Viva Free Trade!
It does seem this is the one area where some object to free trade, when they don't object to it in any other. Go figure.
They know the laws and, unlike yourself, they also understand the laws. Drugs are cheaper in Canada because international law treats prescription drugs differently from other consumer products. American drug makers are required under a 1994 international treaty to sell their medicines at drastically reduced prices to comply with an importing country's price controls. Any company that fails to do so risks losing its patent protection: its drugs can be stolen or copied. So, to comply with this treaty, U.S. companies slash prices for countries with price controls -- including most countries in the developed world.
The cost of manufacturing is very high in the pharmaceutical industry. In some cases, half the cost of a particular drug can be incurred in making it. For that reason, economies of scale are extremely important to drug makers. The more they can produce in a line run the lower the cost will be. This is another important reason why drug makers sell to countries with price controls although the threat of losing their patent protection is their primary motivation. Why these governments are allowed to extort the drug industry with this type of coercion is unforgivable. It's not surprising that Canada, like other price controlled countries, produce almost no drugs on their own and rely almost entirely on the U.S.
Do you think an elderly person cares about drug R&D that will occur after his lifetime?
I think there are a large number of elderly who don't give a damn about anyone else as long at they get theirs. To hell with everyone else. These are the same folks who refuse to allow conservatives to fix social security while using their checks to pay for their country club membership. These same people will also complain that the $1 trillion we'll be spending on the prescription drug plan won't be enough. Do these sound like the kinds of people who care whether the golden goose will be there for future generations?
Frankly I myself would be quite happy to let the Canadian taxpayer fund my purchases.
Proof that you really don't understand the issue. The Canadian taxpayers aren't funding anything. Your lower prices are coming at the expense of pharmaceutical company profits. You benefit because socialists elsewhere have decided to dictate the profit a company is allowed to make. Pretty conservative, huh?
If they want to attract these customers, they might want to consider lowering their domestic prices.
And lower their profits which will surely endear them to Wall Street and investors everywhere. The net result will be much less spending on R&D and much fewer discoveries. Bad news for everyone.
Foreign market restrictions should hardly be "competed" against with our own, especially one that serves an industry over the people
Drugs for people not for profit, eh comrade? Do you have any grasp of just how important the profit motive is to innovation? Or, are you one who believes it is their responsibility to the state to create miracle drugs?
Drug companies are responsible for their own R&D to ensure their future profits
You don't understand the relationship between government funded primary research and pharmaceutical company efforts in applications. The only way research gets done on the pharmaceutical end is if they have the profits to do so. What you're suggesting will eliminate the profit and the funding of research.
they don't need our government handing it to them on a silver plate.
LOL!! Handing them what? It costs the drug makers $800 million to develop and commercialize a new drug. Where do you think that money comes from? If you think the pharmaceutical industry is so profitable it should show in their PE ratios. It doesn't.
I guess if you understood the difference between a government imposing price controls on an industry versus a retailer offering $4.00 generic drugs as a loss leader and public relations coup, in one state, you'd be able to answer the question without my help.
Do you understand that the generic industry is very profitable for pharmacies but offer very low margins for manufacturers? When was the last time you saw a new drug developed and commercialized by a generic manufacturer?
Price controls = free market? [shaking my head in wonder]
Your economic ignorance is staggering.
I guess if you had any greater inkling of how free markets worked than a Cuban shoe factory manager, you wouldn't be such a big fan of having the federosaurus prevent us from buying drugs at open-market prices in countries where NO PRICE CONTROLS EVER EXISTED, such as Switzerland. And whether a price-controlled country like Canada wants to sell to Americans is totally its own business. It represents a market large enough that American manufacturers, who are totally free to sell or not sell to Canadians as they wish, choose to sell products there.
All we want is for American consumers to be as free to buy globally as American drug manufacturers are to sell globally.
Now that's funny coming from someone who thinks that buying drugs from whoever has the best price, even though that low price is caused by state mandated price controls, represents the free market.
..you wouldn't be such a big fan of having the federosaurus prevent us from buying drugs at open-market prices in countries where NO PRICE CONTROLS EVER EXISTED, such as Switzerland.
But you're taking advantage of the system in a price controlled country. How many non-price controlled countries are there? Four? If you want to buy from a country that isn't a signatory to the 1994 treaty mandating these controls, then you should be allowed. Of course, that would end any price breaks that the drug companies may be offering to the poorest countries of the world. Any country that is a party to the 1994 treaty agreed not to re-export the drugs they've coerced out of the drug manufacturers.
And whether a price-controlled country like Canada wants to sell to Americans is totally its own business.
Nonsense. By allowing re-importation to the U.S., Canada is violating an international treaty they signed. Anyone believing in the rule of law should condemn their actions. The irony of all this is that Canada will not have enough drugs for their own people if they allow this to continue. You see, the drug companies are now limiting the supply of pharmaceuticals they sell so that there is enough for Canadians to use -- but not enough to re-sell back to the U.S. As U.S. manufacturers limit drug supplies sold to Canada, there will be market disequilibrium there -- huge demand from the United States, but a dwindling supply of drugs for Canada to sell back to us. When this occurs, Canada will go to other controlled markets like Mexico, Bangladesh and Slovenia which will dramatically increase the chance of them receiving bogus or adulterated products. Right now both Canadian and U.S. officials acknowledge that there is no system in place for determining the safety and efficacy of these imported items. Many people don't believe this is possible but this is nothing more than wishful thinking. Bogus drugs is becoming big business. You can read a new study on that fact here.
Even the U.S. drug supply, among the most secure in the world, is increasingly threatened by counterfeit or substandard drugs. The last few years have seen a rising number of cases of counterfeits turning up in neighborhood pharmacies, including fake versions of some of the nation’s most popular drugs. The main point of entry for the counterfeits has been the “gray market,” a loose and complex network of drug diverters and secondary wholesalers that makes it possible for distributors to introduce diverted and sometimes counterfeit drugs into the legitimate drug supply chain. The risk of counterfeits is even greater with drugs that are unlawfully imported or bought from unregulated online sites.
It represents a market large enough that American manufacturers, who are totally free to sell or not sell to Canadians as they wish, choose to sell products there.
You don't have the facts. A world trade agreement passed in 1994 dictates that any U.S. company that refuses to comply with another country's pharmaceutical price controls by selling drugs at greatly reduced prices risks losing its patent protection.
This clause, which only applies to pharmaceuticals, allows the purchaser to violate all patent protections and make knock-off versions. In essence, if the drug makers don't so as they say the purchasing country can steal their intellectual property without any fear of reprisals. Why is it that conservatives here scream when China does that to our software but advocate for it when it comes to pharmaceuticals?
All we want is for American consumers to be as free to buy globally as American drug manufacturers are to sell globally.
As you can see from the information I've provided, American drug manufacturers don't have a great deal of freedom to sell globally so the rest is meaningless. If you were really concerned about the price of drugs you'd be demanding that price controls be eliminated so that other developed countries of the world bear their fair share of the costs to develop them. If you believe in markets then this is the only position you can take. If you don't believe in markets then you must agree that it is the suppliers duty to society to produce these drugs and that the profit motive has no relationship to innovation. Your position will ensure that new drug development dies. Countries embracing price controls are the graveyard of innovation. There's a reason why more than 90% of all new drugs brought to market are discovered in the U.S. It's the same reason why most of the major drug makers have chosen to locate their R&D facilities here in the U.S.
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