Canadian Drugs, Eh?

WSJ Opinion Journal ^ | 5/11/2007 | KIMBERLEY A. STRASSEL

[Mase]

No, your tagline refers to those who think they know what’s best for someone else

No, it refers to people who think it's in my best interest to kill all future innovation for cheaper prices today. That's how socialists think. They only care about getting what they need today. Screw the future and everyone else.

[oblomov]

If it were as simple as a news story moving aound censors on the net, then there would be no issue.

The fact is that nearly every other country besides the US has price controls on drugs, procedures, and medical devices. In other countries, these price controls are applied under the rubric of socialist “positive rights” language.

As a result, the US funds the medical innovation of the entire world. Very few drugs come to market because of the commercial potential in other countries- it is the US market that they are all developed for because of the freedom to charge something resembling a market price for a drug.

The US alone has rejected the “intransigent nationalism” of other countries that disallow freedom of contract.

Customers can’t simultaneously demand Turkish drug prices and US innovation.

But don’t worry, when innovation dries up, your Dem Senator friends will cook up lots of taxes and and new programs to fund research. And so one more sector of the economy falls under the aegis of state control. Too bad it won’t be for ailments that you or most Americans suffer from. Just the ones with political saliency.

[BlazingArizona]

If the Melamine thing didn’t worry you this surely should.

Ever wonder exactly who's spreading this spate of stories about "melamine in everything"? To me it looks like Big Pharma's version of the hockey stick curve.

[gcruse]

Screwing the future and everybody else is called individual liberty. Those deluded enough to think they can manage the future and expect the rest of us to go along with their plan underestimate the difficulties of running the USSR without the NKVD.

[BlazingArizona]

You are woefully ignorant on this topic, that much is clear.

So am I. I guess we don't have your prescription for Kool-Aid.

[gcruse]

“Customers can’t simultaneously demand Turkish drug prices and US innovation.’

Of course we can. We can also buy Jaguars made in the UK by Ford and bring them to America. It’s how things work.

[oblomov]

Are there price controls on Jaguars in the UK, or any country for that matter? The issue is not one of simple price arbitrage.

[gcruse]

You’re assuming every country but the US has price controls on pharma. A cite to that affect would be useful.

Also, the drugs I’m familiar with are not reimported. They are made overseas. Usually by a division of the American manufacturer. Advocating a captive US market for any product is so far from free trade as to be a laugh.

[oblomov]

You’re assuming every country but the US has price controls on pharma. A cite to that affect would be useful.

Not "every", but all the other developed countries.

US Dept of Commerce Study
FDA Commissioner speech
Cato Institute editorial

The Cato proposal is not unrealistic, but it's miles away from what the Senate proposed last week.

And guess what:

Nature study on innovation
AEI-Brookings study on new drugs

Of course you realize that the Democratic proposals are not about "free trade" or lower prices, but about managing our liberty in the service of government agencies, unions, and HMOs, right?

NRO Article

The reason that Rx drugs cost less in countries like Canada is that international laws on commerce treat prescription drugs differently from other consumer products. U.S. pharmaceutical companies are required under a 1994 treaty to sell their drugs at drastically cut prices to countries with drug price controls...

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Great comments, thanks.

[gcruse]

Thanks.

[Mase]

Thanks for the link to that Liz Whelan article. For those here who mistakenly assert that selling drugs in Canada is voluntary:

Any pharmaceutical company that fails to comply can be punished by having its patent protection taken away. It is as if you were selling books in the United States for $10 and when you offered them to Canada, officials there told you that they would either give you $4 or violate your intellectual property rights and make copies of the book without your permission, in the name of educating Canadians.

To comply with this treaty, drug companies slash prices for countries with price controls, which means most countries in the developed world. The purchasing countries in this "deal" are supposed to agree not to turn around and resell the drugs to Americans. That means all the state programs to "reimport" drugs are illegal, but the law is almost never enforced — and as you read this the Senate and House are considering bills that make importation completely legal.

The Drug Import Hoax

That should provide a sobering dose of reality for all those here who really believe in free trade, the rule of law and conservative principles in general. Some others still couldn't give a damn as long as they get theirs.

[statered]

tin foil hat time I guess. Big pharma is eeeevvvviiiillll.

[statered]

go vote for Buchanan or something. You sound like a Patsie with this raft of faux populism.

[Lou L]

Move to Arizona instead. Retirement communities offer organized "geezer connection" bus tours to Mexico.

Caveat emptor, my friend. If you're buying pharma products from Mexico, and you're getting them on the cheap, there's a better than average chance those drugs are counterfeits.