Re:The $2.7 Trillion Medical Bill
by MarkMc on Saturday June 01, 2013 @07:57PM
(#5806628)
> So, you mean that if US drug companies made more money abroad, they would decide to make less money than they possibly can in the US?
You're right that a drug company will always charge as much as it can, so the US price of a drug will not be affected by the price it can charge elsewhere. However, the chance a drug is developed in the first place is dependant on the total size of the market for that drug. If the potential profit for, say, a breast cancer cure is $300 billion rather than $100 billion then there is more chance that a cure will be found.
You're right that a drug company will always charge as much as it can, so the US price of a drug will not be affected by the price it can charge elsewhere. However, the chance a drug is developed in the first place is dependant on the total size of the market for that drug. If the potential profit for, say, a breast cancer cure is $300 billion rather than $100 billion then there is more chance that a cure will be found.