Re:This old drug was free. Now it’s $109,500 a year
by chroem- on Monday December 18, 2017 @04:04PM
(#15955492)
This is a separate issue from large emergency medical bills. You can get a drug prescribed for a chronic condition just about anywhere, but if it's produced by a monopolist then you're forced to pay whatever absurd price the manufacturer demands. Adequate competition without IP restrictions can drive drug prices very, very low. This can be seen in the Indian pharma industry.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:This old drug was free. Now it’s $109,500 a year
by HarryHirsch on Monday December 18, 2017 @07:01PM
(#15956643)
There is no adequate competition, this is an orphan drug that will sustain at most one producer. Fun fact: most generics are sourced to very few producers because margins are so low, competition is working.
There are similarities to fine chemical shortages: http://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2010/06/16/spa...
The world can do without sparteine, but orphan drugs call for regulation as natural monopolies, or even government subsidies.