60 Minutes reported this evening on the absurd high prices of cancer drugs that extend the life of cancer patients, but often drive them and their families into bankruptcy --even when only paying the copays. Here is a link to the text of the interviews and the video: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-cost-of-cancer-drugs/
As an investor in several "big pharma" companies, I do understand how expensive it is to develop, test and get approval of a new drug. The time a company has to recover those costs is often limited by the life of the patent, the chance of complications, and the likely chance of obsolescence as new drugs are developed. The companies do take huge risks, spend immense amounts of money on development and have teams of smart, inspired professionals.
On the other hand, I'm appalled that these same drug companies are able to negotiate with other countries and sell those same drugs at much lower prices than to American citizens. US R&D is generally subsidized at US universities. Our FDA spends a lot of money to support the approval process etc. Why should US Citizens pay more for the drugs than Canada, EU, Australia or Japan?
I think either the US should either allow Government agencies to negotiate drug company prices, or pass a simple law that says that drug companies can't sell drugs in other countries at prices lower than used within the US. That will "spread" the costs over more of the world.
As an investor in several "big pharma" companies, I do understand how expensive it is to develop, test and get approval of a new drug. The time a company has to recover those costs is often limited by the life of the patent, the chance of complications, and the likely chance of obsolescence as new drugs are developed. The companies do take huge risks, spend immense amounts of money on development and have teams of smart, inspired professionals.
On the other hand, I'm appalled that these same drug companies are able to negotiate with other countries and sell those same drugs at much lower prices than to American citizens. US R&D is generally subsidized at US universities. Our FDA spends a lot of money to support the approval process etc. Why should US Citizens pay more for the drugs than Canada, EU, Australia or Japan?
I think either the US should either allow Government agencies to negotiate drug company prices, or pass a simple law that says that drug companies can't sell drugs in other countries at prices lower than used within the US. That will "spread" the costs over more of the world.
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