Comments on: Pricing of prescription drugs

By: jim

jim — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 17:39:12 +0000

An article today highlights Canadian Health Minister's imminent proposal to reduce Internet pharmacy sales.

By: Lily

Lily — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 17:24:33 +0000

Beware of buying generics from Canada. They can be more expensive than at the corner store.

By: jim

jim — Mon, 11 Oct 2004 17:30:31 +0000

USA Today ran a story today that some major drugmakers spend a greater percentage of money on dividends than research. To their credit, the industry does spend 8.1 cents per $1 of revenues, second only to technology (8.4 cents/$1 revenue) on research.

By: Schlomo Rausdauber

Schlomo Rausdauber — Mon, 20 Sep 2004 15:26:24 +0000

There’s a bit more to this story in terms of economics. It’s not just negotiating power, it’s often government regulations (especially in euro and asia where the governments heavily discount the R&D cost in margins). The cost of R&D for the American consumer is a kicker. A little over half of all research went to AIDS drugs since 1995 or so. But, the countries that have the highest per capita use for it will never be able to afford the research cost. Add on top of it that the US has the highest purchasing power in the world, it does make sense we pay the most for the drugs. But, do we really need to pay the lion’s share of R&D for the world? Must be one of the reasons everyone hates America…

By: Debbie

Debbie — Mon, 20 Sep 2004 13:58:18 +0000

For the last few months I’ve been running out of my Imitrex prescription well before my insurance will cover a refill on my nine pills. This, to me, seems like cruel and unusual punishment. Without the insurance, the cost to us is about $180.00 for those nine little pills, so I just do without and hope that my next migraine doesn’t get so bad that I need to make a trip to the emergency room…

Good post.