"Bruce in Bangkok" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 12 Mar 2008 13:43:01 -0400, "Ed Huntress"
wrote:


"Bruce in Bangkok" wrote in message
. ..
On Wed, 12 Mar 2008 01:40:45 -0400, "Ed Huntress"
wrote:


"Hawke" wrote in message
...

"Bruce in Bangkok" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 10 Mar 2008 22:16:38 -0800, "Hawke"
wrote:


GeoLane at PTD dot NET wrote in message
.. .
On Sun, 9 Mar 2008 22:07:39 -0700 (PDT), Millwright Ron
wrote:

Snipped


Not in the case of Zestril that I quoted. See the following:

Bruce, I worked in pharmaceutical marketing for four years and A-Z was one
of my clients, fer chrissake. Believe me, your costs have nothing to do
with
manufacturing costs. Neither do ours. Yours are based on price controls
and
accounting that covers only the marketing and distribution costs in
Thailand. Ours are based on everything they can get out of the market,
with
no holds barred. Period.


AstraZeneca is one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies,
with a broad range of medicines designed to fight disease in important
areas of healthcare.

Active in over 100 countries with growing presence in important
emerging markets; corporate office in London UK; major R&D sites in
Sweden, the UK and the US.

In nearly all cases, I can buy a medicine cheaper here in Thailand
then in the U.S. and these are imported medicines. If they are made
locally it is about 1/10th the price.

Of course. You're larded with "compulsory licensing." That is, the Thai
government gives your pharma industry a license for pirating. d8-)

Sorry, incorrect. the Thai government is discussing the CL question
with one or two drug companies but there has been no decision.

Bruce, I don't know what kind of smoke the Thai government is blowing your
way, but they granted compulsory licenses in the last year or so for
anivirals efavirenz and lopinavir+ritonavir, and for clopidogrel, a heart
medication sold by Bristol Myers Squibb. There were four more in the works
but Abbott Labs responded to the CL for lopinavir+ritonavir (Kaletra) by
announcing they wouldn't register any more drugs in Thailand. The US put
Thailand on its 301 Priority Watch List, citing " further indications of a
weakening of respect for patents, as the Thai Government announced decisions
to issue compulsory licenses for several patented pharmaceutical products."

NOW the Thai government is re-thinking the CLs, and may pull back on the
ones they've already granted -- after they faced the probability that other
pharma companies would just stop doing business there. If they can't make
money there they aren't going to play.

According to the pharmaceutical department of Chulalongkorn University
(the most prestigious school in the country) all current drugs covered
by copyright or patent are imported from the makers, or their licensed
representatives. (they operate a extremely well stocked pharmacy in
the heart of Bangkok so they are easy to talk to).

But the point of the discussion was my trying to illustrate my
assertion that costs in the U.S. are too high. I used the example of
Zestril simply to point out that

But your whole premise was wrong. Here's what you said:

Let me give you one simple example: I buy Zestril, a medicine for
hypertension, in Thailand, for the equivalent of US$ 12.90/30 tabs. I
saw it advertized on the Internet, for sale in the U.S. for $48.00/30
tabs. The same medicine, made by the same people, in the same factory.
Does that give you a hint why the U.S. is losing business?

My response was no, it gives no hint. Because that wasn't the issue. If the
Zestril was made in the US (it probably was made by A-Z's "licensed
representative" in Puerto Rico), we'd sell it to you in Thailand for
$12.90/30, too. That's the way the business works. It has nothing to do with
costs within the US. It has everything to do with price controls and what
the local market will bear. That's the way it is on virtually *all*
pharmaceuticals, everywhere in the world.

The US market, as of now, will bear the costs, and there are no price
controls. So A-Z sells Zestril for $48.00/30 *here*. Not there. They can get
away with it in the US, but not anywhere else. That's what I was trying to
tell you earlier.

Now, for future reference, you can buy the generic of Zestril at Wal-Mart
for $4.00/30. And there are plenty of other ACE inhibitors to choose from if
you don't like generic Zestril. That's an important thing that you're
missing. FWIW, I can buy branded Zestril for $5.50/30 days, or $5.50/90 days
if I order it by mail. That's because I have good pharma coverage. I'm the
kind of person who might buy branded ACE inhibitors in the US. If you don't
have the insurance coverage, you buy generics.


More snipped.

Bruce, you started with an interesting point about manufacturing costs,
but
you're barking up the wrong tree to use pharma as an example. There are no
conclusions that can be drawn about relative competitiveness from drug
pricing -- except that it's screwed up so deeply that every country is
different, and even every drug is different.

I think I used the wrong example :-) as I had no intention of
discussing the pharmaceutical industry. My point was, simply, that
costs in the U.S. are too high. Perhaps I should have said something
like "Why, even my medicine for high blood pressure costs less then a
quarter of the U.S. price".

OK, back on track. It's true that costs in the US are high. For comparison,
the USA's GDP is around $44,000 per capita, while Thailand's is around
$8,000. Thailand's average income is under $4,000/year (much higher in
Bangkok); the US runs around $37,000. The Gini index for the US is 40.8; for
Thailand, 43.5.

So income distribution for both countries is rather widely split -- somewhat
wider in Thailand -- while the US has a GDP running more than five times
greater. One would expect costs to be MUCH lower in Thailand, as they are.
It isn't just incomes in manufacturing that matter. It's the entire supply
chain of embedded incomes, which means that practically all manufactured
goods will cost much less to produce in Thailand.

Now, given all that, what is it you're saying, or prescribing, for the US?
Our numbers are similar to those of Europe and Japan, and they're typical
for highly developed economies -- the ones at the top, in terms of income
and GDP. In direct competition, for anything that can be made in Thailand,
we're going to get creamed. What would you suggest?

--
Ed Huntress