Posted on 05/30/2011 9:01:22 AM PDT by TennesseeGirl
the rest of the world make all the drugs but do not use the special sauce made from American sucker weed. Sucker enhancement actually makes the drugs cost three or four time more than anywhere else.
I wish we could grow sucker weed.
We do grow plenty of sucker weed, and the government has mandated it’s use.
:)
"They" never said that you would die from substandard pharmaceuticals. "They" did say, however, that buying meds on line, especially from Canada, dramatically increased the risk of obtaining counterfeit or adulterated drugs.
That hasn't changed. Actually, it's only gotten worse. The WHO estimates that 10% of all drugs world wide are counterfeit. Organized crime is making a fortune selling these drugs to unwitting consumers. The FDA did a study back in 2005 that showed 85% of all internet drugs purporting to be from Canada actually came from one of 25 other countries like China, India, Costa Rica etc. Yeah, those are the countries I want my pharmaceuticals coming from.
Besides these obvious concerns, and as a conservative, do you really want access to cheaper drugs due to foreign imposed price controls? Socialism, or something worse, is ok as long as it results in you getting your drugs for less money? Countries practicing price controls don't develop new drugs. That is a fact. Does removing the profit motive spur innovation in your world? Do you think future generations should forgo innovation so you can have access to artificial prices forced upon industry by government? Over the past 15 years, nine out of 10 of all new drugs have been discovered here in the US. Why do you think that is?
The suckers (fools) are those who think we pay more than the rest of the world for drugs for some other reason than foreign price controls. The US is one of just a handful of markets where the pharmaceutical industry can still make the profit necessary to support the massive R&D necessary to create NME's. There's a reason the world's drug R&D is headquartered in the USA. Some folks want to kill the last remaining goose laying golden eggs. They're usually the same folks who don't give a rats rear end about anyone else as long as they get theirs.
Hyperbole, Mase. Hyperbole.
“Did you read the article? It is the GENERIC drugs that are in short supply, due to non-viable profit margins. See my post #11.”
Big notice—it’s not ONLY the generics. We’re seeing this all over all drug classifications. And then I see the Call an Ambulance Chaser commercials advertising to sue if one has ever taken darvocet, antidepressants, etc. Until there is real tort reform, I expect things will get incredibly worse.
It seems that you have certainly cornered the market on hallucinatory drugs.
I'm going to guess that the drugs aren't made continuously -- that the same production facilities are used to make several drugs. If a particular drug runs out of inventory before another production batch is scheduled to be made, or a batch run for drug A is delayed while an order for a more profitable drug B is filled, then a shortage happens.
The solution would be for hospitals and distributors to maintain a bigger inventory, but it makes for a better news story to blame manufacturers.
According to this article http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/226896.php, Pharmacists and drugmakers cite the following reasons for drug shortages:
* Product recalls
* Contaminated vials
* Difficulties in importing certain raw materials
* Demand fluctuations
* Production plants being upgraded (and closed while the upgrade is being carried out)
FYI, it’s worthwhile to read the entire article cited in this post; economics and regulations are mentioned as well.
When the mass media get 70% of their income from the medical and pharmaceutical companies are they every going to bite the hand that feeds them.
The price might make you suicidal but... ask your doctor.
The medical, pharmaceutical industry and politicians all get their cut while the suckers pay the price and believe what they are told.
Reality can be uncomfortable.
Sometimes its a matter of the drug being derived from plants. If it requires a lot of a particular plant or the plant is hard to come by, this will raise prices or make the medicine scarce. Sometimes we don’t know how the plant creates the material needed for the drug. There are other reasons for scarcity.
Big pharmaceutica will have to adjust its revenues to the economy of a country with no large manufacturing base and a government headed toward default. ...about the 1800s should do it. Have fun. Enjoy the slide.
You got away with it longer than I did. I’ve had to use generic dyazide for a long time now. In fact, last month they informed me that the dosage I used has been terminated. So, now I have to have get the double strength and break the tablets into two. They seem to crumble if you use a pill splitter.
Previous to that, they told me that they couldn’t get the capsules anymore and only tablets were available. I suggested the pharm industry see where vitamin and mineral suppliers get their capsules since they don’t seem to be having a problem getting capsules! lol
That will make the problem worse. The issue is the relatively low profits on generic drugs combined with the high risk of producing any drug. How many commercials have you seen lately advising you to sue drug manufacturers?
I'm sorry, but right now I'm dealing with a shortage in an expensive nongeneric drug I take. It's not just the generics. The pharmacies tell me with appropriate cynicism that the manufacturer has essentially doubled the price of the drug.
Heh...remember PharmaKom in “Johnny Mnemonic?”
The subtext of your post is flagrantly obvious, so I addressed it.
You're on a roll, why stop now?
No matter what the level of output, though, there is always a price that you can sell it at where there will be no shortage. Either the manufacturers are behaving irrationally by selling it for less than they could, or there is some restriction on their ability to determine the price. I am betting on the latter since this is a new phenomenon. Typically when you suddenly have a malfunctioning in the market of some kind, it is the result of regulation. Factors causing market failures which do not result from regulations don’t suddenly appear out of nowhere. Either they exist or they don’t.
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.