"jim rozen" wrote in message
...
In article , Tom Ivar Helbekkmo says...

But wait - I thought it was a *global* enconomy. That we should
be enjoying the benefits of lower costs.

Modern economy *is* global.

Um, global yes, for the Merck Medco to sent their manufacturing
overseas. Global, no, for the US citizen who wants to purchase
drugs from the same company at their foreign prices.

That was my point. The administration has responded to the
drug lobby by rigging the shell game.

The US is the only developed country in the world that doesn't regulate drug
prices. Thus, our Big Pharma companies sock us with the full weight of their
up-front costs. By the way, money spent by Big Pharma on marketing is
roughly twice their entire research and development budget, including the
budget for getting FDA approvals.

By accounting for foreign sales separately they can show a profit on foreign
operations, even when drug prices are less than half those in the US, by,
first, using the FDA approval data for foreign approvals, while showing all
of those expenses in US operations; and, second, by treating all such sales
are marginal income, with nearly all expenses charged to US operations.

It's a really neat business.

Ed Huntress