[DonaldC]

$4000 a month drug, and we wonder why socialism is taking root.

[pharmamom]

It’s market forces at work, DonaldC. Drug with limited use (can’t use it for headaches!) still costs almost $1B to develop. Patent life is limited (and much of it is eaten up by the development phase; actual time-on-market patent life is probably very short).

You want the best stuff? You gotta pay for the risks involved in coming up with it. You want cheaper stuff? Live with less efficacy and fewer choices.

Or we could do what Europe does, which is extend the patent life of drugs, so that companies can lower the prices as they have longer to recoup. But oops, Obama and the Congress already ruled that possibility out.

There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch. Socialism is a big lie.

[boxerblues]

$4000 a month drug, and we wonder why socialism is taking root.

When my husband was going though cancer treatments, they prescribed him Tarceva, because it was a prescription my health insurance would not cover it. All we had to do was call the manufacturer and they set us up so that I did not have to pay the $8000 for a 30 supply. I ended up paying $100 for it.