Free Republic

A Seattle patient just became the first American to receive a potential breakthrough vaccine for COVID-19. That vaccine -- developed by Moderna, a Massachusetts biotech start-up -- is one of several experimental coronavirus vaccines and treatments that pharmaceutical firms are developing around the country. The industry's lightning-fast reaction is a testament to the ingenuity of America's scientists -- and the dynamism of America's drug-development system. And it's a reminder that Washington's ongoing effort to defund pharmaceutical innovation puts millions of lives at risk. To say that drug firms have moved quickly to combat this pandemic is an understatement. In the...

Monday was Columbus Day, or as liberals have taken to calling, “Indigenous People’s Day.” Democrats love sowing division, blaming Europeans for all of the world’s ills, and elevating the status of Native Americans. Well, they usually do. When it’s a choice between a long-dead Italian guy and American Indians, the choice is easy. When the choice is between their own reelection and anything, everything else loses to self-preservation.Such is the case with Missouri Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill.One of my first jobs in Washington was as a health policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation. While it may not sound exciting, it...

E-mail Author Send to a Friend <% printurl = Request.ServerVariables("URL")%> Print Version June 22, 2004, 8:56 a.m. PharmaPez?Drug studies; are as fake as sugar pills. By Michael Fumento Americans have a love-hate relationship with pharmaceutical companies. We're delighted that they've done so much to increase the quality and lengths of our lives and that they consistently develop better products. We just wish the prices were a bit lower — perhaps on the order of Pez candy. Unfortunately some "citizens groups" exploit this ambiguity with self-published "studies" claiming drug companies exist only to gouge us — especially seniors. One such,...

I just refilled my high blood pressure medication at a Walgreens and the the retail price went from $83.00 last month to $100.00 this month. Is it just me or are we already paying for the pharmaceuticals' protection money on this Obama-racket?

Health Systems: Health care in France is often held up as a model the U.S. might follow. Yet the French have their own problems that show there's no such thing as a free lunch — or a free doctor's visit.Call it the grass-is-greener syndrome. Advocates of national health care, acknowledging the flaws in ObamaCare yet despising the current U.S. system that has the best medicines, the best medical equipment and the shortest waiting lists, have turned their eyes lovingly to places like France. As City Journal contributing editor Guy Sorman notes, the French would also love to have the low-cost,...

Here is my assessment: They are not. Not in reality. Right now you’re probably sitting there thinking, “Whoa’, that’s totally different that everything I’ve heard” or “it’s cheaper for me, so it’s cheaper”. Let me explain why I am right. The difference is social systems (namely socialism) and trade policy. Those are the two biggest factors. Imagine you are a drug manufacturer. What is your largest cost? Is it manufacturing? Not a chance. Your biggest cost is by far development of newer and more cutting edge drugs. The actual manufacturing could be pennies on the dollar in comparison. Quite often...

Making Drugs Safe and Available without the FDA January 1997 Executive Summary There is widespread agreement that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) needs reforming. The drug approval process in the United States is too slow, too expensive and too restrictive. The FDA delays the introduction of new drugs for up to 12 years and does not publish standards of safety or effectiveness that any drug can meet to ensure its approval. As a result: Thousands of patients die because lifesaving drugs and medical devices available elsewhere are not yet approved for use in the United States. Surgery,...