"Paul K. Dickman" wrote:

Tom wrote in message ...
Perhaps you should address the price of drugs first?

Recently proscribed Mobic 7.5 mg, cost in here, US$27.20 per 100.
Checkout some prices in the US:
http://www.pricescan.com/health/items/item900129.asp
Then tell me why.

Tom

Sure, they are in Canada.

There are a few things about the pharmaceutical business you must
understand.

#1
It costs a boatload of wampum to come up with a new drug. According to the
PhRMA, $800,000,000 and 15 years on average. Sure the feds give them a lot
of scratch, but it still ain't cheap. They are actively engaged in pure
research. They still send out guys to collect soil and plant samples in the
hope of finding new molds and chemical compounds that, someday, might be
good for something.

#2
Most of the developed world has some form of socialized medicine. This
means you have one customer in each country. That gives them a lot of
bargaining power.

#3
The WTO in TRIPS said that, lifesaving drugs have no international patent
rights.

So the way it works is this:

You have a new drug , that you want to sell in Canada.
You submit the stuff that got you FDA approval, including the manufacturing
processes, and Canada reviews it.
They get back to you and say, "This is a lifesaving drug. We can produce it
ourselves for 30 cents a tab. We'll let you make a profit. We'll pay you 60
cents a tab."
You say, "No way, It cost me $800,000,000 to come up with this. Even if I
sell a billion, I have to get 80 cents over cost just to break even."
They say, "No skin off our noses. We'll make our own. Then we'll sell our
excess production off to the rest of the world as cheap generics."

Now, the drug companies could have played some hardball at this point, but
they opted for some slow pitch.
"Well you're only so much of the word market." you say, "I'll raise
everyone else's price a nickel, and I'll still come out."

That worked OK for a while, until the rest of the world got wind of this
bargaining strategy.
Eventually, the market share paying for R&D dwindled down to us.
Cures for foreign problems, like schistosomiasis , malaria, and dengue
fever, got put on the back burner in favor of cures they can sell in America
and non lifesaving drugs for things like erectile dysfunction and acid
reflux disease.

Paul K. Dickman

Canada? I'm in New Zealand and Mobic is a Boehringer Ingelheim (German)
product.
Have another go..

Tom