Posted on 11/02/2009 5:11:20 PM PST by Kaslin
This is the fifth installment of a nine-part series excerpting the chapter on medical care from the new edition of economist Thomas Sowell's "Applied Economics."
The costs behind these prices are not only high, but unusual, in the predominance of research costs over the cost of actually manufacturing the medications themselves. While the process of creating a new pharmaceutical drug involves science, it also involves trial and error, often taking years.
In the pharmaceutical drug industry, creating a new medicine to cure a particular disease can involve many failures before finally developing a drug that is simultaneously effective, affordable and without major adverse side effects for most people.
In 2003, an official of the drug producer Pfizer said: "Last year we made over 5,000 compounds. Only half a dozen of them will make it to clinical trials." How many of those half dozen would prove to be successful in the clinical trials and then make it through the approval process of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), only the future would tell.
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
YEP....the Canadians and other countries feed off of our research.....cheaply!
Sowell proves once again...he is a genius!
I don't have the heart to tell her that the drugs and procedures that have kept her husband alive and relatively well for three years would not have been available to him under the plans now under consideration by our government. Indeed, as others have noted, research and drug production may essentially be things of the past.
The holy Grail of pharma, the NCE, New Chemical Entity. Fewer than a handful are found each year.
I work for a VC that invests solely in pharma and biotech.
The people have no idea of the billions spent every year for research that discovers nothing, or worse, produces a drug that works no better than the placebo effect.
America is the research lab of the world. The world just doesn’t appreciate it. And Obama will kill this golden goose.
obama and the people behind him (Soros and the other international banksters)—as well as his robot minions in Congress—have NO INTEREST in improving health, only in increasing coercion and control! Calling their proposals “health care reform” is a mockery and a delusion!!!!
I have long advocated the US negotiating with the Europeans and the Canadians so that we all pay a fairer price for drugs, which covers research costs and allows companies that undertake the enormous effort of drug development to make a fair profit. Instead, we get a rogue government that uses the low Canadian/Euro prices as a club to advocate for “cheap drugs”, and rationing of the life-saving and life-extending drugs we have. The result will be no research and development and NO PROGRESS on health care for any country, and tens of millions of needless disabilities and deaths!!!!
But the antichrist obamaites don’t care!
gotta pay for those other 5000 somehow...
more like STEAL
Traditional Pharma pipelines have no new blockbusters lined up. They are trying to expand by gobbling each other up and through acquiring small biotech firms. I’ve been in the industry for 12 years and have not seen things this bad. R&D staffs are being slashed and there is a huge influx of highly skilled workers hitting the unemployment rolls while vying for positions. Pharma is going back to partnering with research universities...it’s only going to get worse with no incentives to bring out new drugs if Obama gets his way. Why should we invest billions if we can’t sell at a high enough cost to recoup investment. Wanna control costs? Someone should investigate the scams the drug wholesalers run. I sell something to them for $1 and I am required to pay them back $0.50 on the back end for the priviledge of getting my products into distribution. Or the chains where that $1 is marked up to $100 in the store but I’m the cheat...
I don’t necessarily agree with Sowell here.
Yes new drug research is expensive. BUT there are drugs that are being released that are not new!
For example...Solodyn is minocycline... “extended release” minocycline has been on the market for years and is a safe and effective drug (so no new research) The price is over $500/30pills (again for frickin acne).
Maybe Sowell is talking about cancer/aids or about some of the biologicals drugs like Enbrel and Humira...fair enough...no issue with that.
BUT we should however find it ridiculous that every time a drug is going off patent miraculously its discovered that the dex- or levo- isomer is more effective or safer than the racemic mixture so a “new” product is introduced to the market that has patent protection and it will also be 10-30x the price of the generic that is hitting the market.
The “research” shown to the docs by the big chested drug reps seems to confirm that the “new” drug is better so everyone is switched yet their insurance won’t cover it.
That’s the drug market reality.
It takes about 10-15 years to bring a new drug to market. 10-15 years of salaries and all of the research expenses.
Well..I somewhat agree with you....I think drugs are sometimes pushed a little much (I KNOW...I was told I needed $10,000 a year Humira for Rheum Arthritis - but, I found a Longevity doc who fixed me with hormones - for about $2500/yr - menopause almost killed me!)....and big pharma is also trying to destroy “natural” remedies like the bio-identical hormones I must take to move.....but, for those with cancer who want to pay...big pharma comes up with expensive solutions! and they don’t anywhere else in the world, I don’t think.
I know all about it! But it’s sort of complicated to put on this forum. If/when we get to discuss and implement REAL health care reform (as I’ve been posting for awhile), we can discuss the complex situation with the pharma/biotech industry.
Right now, we are facing a FAKEY “heath care reform” which is truly monstrous! It would mean NO progress in drugs, devices, or other therapeutics or diagnostics. And it would mean tens of millions of needless disabilities and deaths, including enshrining abortion and euthanasia as “rights”, plus putting a totalitarian government in place that will be hard to get rid of.
Let’s defeat the monster NOW!!!! Then we can see about some real health care reform that will save lives, improve quality, and cut costs, while encouraging innovation.
The doctor will take that into consideration when they prescribe. If the patient is low income and a generic would work I always gave it to them to save them money. Problem is with the Obamacare EVERYBODY gets the cheapest and not the necessarily best, just what the government will “allow” you to have.
You're talking about a line extension or a re-launching for a new indication. Before a drug can be approved for a new indication, the pharma company still has to prove to the FDA or auhorizing body, that drug is safe and effective. That proof requires tests, studies, and more analysis. Why shouldn't the pharma be allowed to recoup that expense?
More and more, formularies and insurance companies require proof that a new drug is not only safe, but it must also show greater efficacy than other similar drugs on the market. Extending a drug's patent, or finding new indications for a drug is not something trivial.
It still takes money to be able to prove to the FDA that there is a new indication. The clinicals may not be as in depth or expensive but there is still a considerable investment to file not to mention you need to justify to FDA up-front what you are aiming to do. Drug companies don’t just slap a new label on a drug...not the way it works.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.