Drug companies over a barrel

[XMEN Gambit]

<!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.0 ... <!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>This article from Wired lays out an issue you may have heard about, with "greedy" drug companies charging an arm & a leg for a pill in the US but practically giving it away in Africa.<br><br>Now, the drug company may or may not be greedy, but the cost of developing, if not producing, effective new drugs is incredible. If there was no financial incentive to develop the drug, then no one would invest money in its development. So the company must recoup this value while its patent is in effect and can be enforced. Price gouging is awful, too, but at least the drug gets developed and the patents DO expire after a few years.<br><br>So pay attention when the politicians harp on this point, looking to ride to office on a wave of charity, and don't seem to care that their actions could easily stifle development of new lifesaving drugs. <p><!--EZCODE IMAGE START--><img src="http://www.xmenclan.org/xmengambit.gif"/><!--EZCODE IMAGE END--><br>XMEN member<br>Card-carrying DTM<br>OKL Fish-napper<br><br>Though a program be but three lines long, someday it will have to be maintained.<br><!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em> The Tao of Programming</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--></p><i></i>

[XMEN Ravok99]

I am divided on this issue - I am glad that they can aid the Africans with new drugs, but on the other hand, sometimes it seems to me that Africa (and certain other places) are a test-bed. Sure, its approved medications, and possibly animal tested and shown to be within risk limitations for side-effects and such, but I still think pumping this stuff to other nations is a way they triple check the numbers - and I can't say I like the notion.<br><br>But that is conjecture on my part - and not to be taken as what the companies are actually doing out in 'international' markets where certain laws may be more lax.<br><br> <p>"Patience is a virtue ... for other people." -Ravok</p><i></i>

[XMEN Iceman]

I can tell you from personal experience working with a drug company and being involved in some of the litigation that ANYTIME a doctor screws up in the operating room and we have any drugs, equipment, etc. in there...we get tagged onto the suit. That is why our surgical machines now have hard drives in them to record the settings and data about how it was used. We then can put it into a simulator and see what was going on.<br><br>Anyway...people are so dang sue happy that it cost us a fortune to defend ourselves. <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :( --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/frown.gif ALT=":("><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <p></p><i></i>

[XMEN Ravok99]

Ahh, that sheds a lot of light on the matter for me, Thanks Snowcone <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/smile.gif ALT=":)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <p>"Patience is a virtue ... for other people." -Ravok</p><i></i>

[XMENRudeJelly]

Maybe the U.S. tort laws are the reason the price is so much higher here an so much lower in Africa.<br><br>tort - sounds like a "hip" turtle's nickname. <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/smile.gif ALT=":)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <p><!--EZCODE IMAGE START--><img src="http://webpages.charter.net/1ibcnya/mongheesm.jpg" style="border:0;"/><!--EZCODE IMAGE END--><!--EZCODE BR START-->
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[Ambush Bug]

Ice: I understand your point about getting caught up in the litigation--people are sue-happy these days, and it's unfortunate they gotta blame the equipment as well as the docs.<br><br>However, my real beef with pharma companies is their sales techniques. Having worked under the management of a big pharma company before, I can tell you from what I've heard from my last customer base that pharma sales reps ain't quite up there on the goodness scale. I have heard numerous stories of kickbacks, bribes, and so on from the sales reps to get a doc to use their drug before another drug, even if the other drug works in a provably better fashion.<br><br>And then there's the ads. Hooo boy, the <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>ads</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->. I hate those things.<br><br>"Feeling blue?"<br><!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>*images of some person moping around house, screwing up dinner, yelling at their kids, or what-have-you flash on-screen*</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--><br>"Then take one of these every day!"<br><!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>*camera pans in on some pill or bottle, lit brightly and placed prominently among happy-looking household family members or items*</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--><br>[Announcer, speaking rapidly]: "Sideeffectsmayinclude: diahrreadrowsinessimpotenceskinrashconvulsionsorevendeath."<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>PAH!</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START >: --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/mad.gif ALT=">:"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br><br>If I'm feeling like crap, I go to a doctor, not the TV, dammit! And I watch the docs <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>real</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> careful-like these days. First sign of hawking some drug with a prominent name on it, and I'm off to a different doc. I want someone that knows what works, not what gets him the biggest kickback!<br><br>Since I've moved up to Rochester, I've already had that happen once, and let me tell you, I was <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>pissed</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->. Took his cute little pre-filled-out prescription, tore the @(*$ing thing to shreds and went to a different doc. My health is not worth his next set of golf-clubs.<br><br>Bah, I'm ranting. Since I've found out about my heart murmur, I've gotten a whole lot more paranoid about doctors and health lately. <p></p><i></i>

[Spinning Hat]

Little note AB- Most Doctors' offices type out their perscriptions now, so there is no mistaking what medicine to give and what dosage. <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START ;) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/wink.gif ALT=";)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <p><!--EZCODE HR START--><hr /><!--EZCODE HR END--><!--EZCODE CENTER START--><div style="text-align:center"><br><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="color:red;font-family:Arial;font-size:medium;"><!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>"Never, Never, Never Quit"</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> -Winston Churchill</span><!--EZCODE FONT END--></div><!--EZCODE CENTER END--></p><i></i>

[Ambush Bug]

It wasn't a mistake with the prescription, as far as handwriting was concerned. What set me off was that the guy was hawking wares without explaining what they were for, what alternatives there were, or what other prices were availalbe, and handed me a prescription for the stuff without so much as a by-your-leave.<br><br>Instantly set off my 'this guy has been bought' alarm. On the way out of the office, I checked the waiting room, and sure enough, there were just one brand of pharma brochures in the wall-slots. I hadn't noticed it on the way in 'cause I was just nervous before the doc visit as I always get. <p></p><i></i>