1. The pill that sells for $200 doesn’t just have to cover the $.50 production cost, but the R&D cost for that pill and every other medication that never makes it out of the testing phase.
2. Even if R&D and production costs are relatively consistent across different types of medication, there is an enormous disparity in the UNIT costs because of the differences in how many units are sold. A medication that is used by 10,000 people is going to cost a lot more than one that is used by 10 million people.
Very true. One thing I think we need to figure out is why it takes $1 billion to bring a new drug to market.
All the tests and regulations are well intentioned, but would more lives be saved if it only cost $100 million to get a new drug approved?