It is a harrowing proposition: that in trying to control drug prices for 67 million Medicare patients now, we might inadvertently prevent the development of future drugs that could save lives. Implied, if not stated outright, is that we’re putting a cure for cancer or Alzheimer’s or some other intractable disease in jeopardy.
But we have good reasons to believe that the current policy won’t have such a trade-off any time soon. For one, pharma is hugely profitable, and these negotiated prices, while potentially chipping away at profit margins, should hardly entirely dampen the incentive to innovate, according to a couple of key studies of the industry. Two, if we are worried about future innovation, we should be focused on making it cheaper to develop drugs – and this is actually one area where AI is showing promise. By identifying the best candidates for possible treatments early in the research process, we could speed up development and continue to reduce costs — without losing out on tomorrow’s breakthroughs. …
Miraclemassively profitable medicine.The idea that better drugs will be discovered by AI is laughable, though. It can help the search, but it can’t predict the trial outcomes well. The system is too complex, and we don’t have the data.
AI will cut down the time it takes, which is still helpful.
Trust me bro. One time I saw an ai claim that it’s possible to make lsd out of sodium chloride and distilled water. It was ai generated so it must be true.
I wouldn’t believe anything Big Pharma says.
Big Pharma is so fucking greedy we’re already starting to run out of useful new antibiotics because they aren’t as profitable as Big Pharma wants.
Let’s not conflate the business side of pharma and the science is pharmacology. The main reason we don’t have new antibiotics is mostly due to the evolutionary arms race against bacteria that quickly develop resistance typically within a year.
No conflation. It’s both. It’s because everything is privatized / sacrificed on the altar of capitalism. Yes, bacteria evolves quickly, but that doesn’t explain the huge gap in development efforts. It’s a complication, definitely. But, I reject the idea that this is the primary reason. More like an excuse.
Won’t somebody think of the jobs in their marketing departments that have bigger budgets than the R&D departments?!?
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https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/368538/medicare-drug-prices-pharma-negotiations-innovation
FTFY…
Big Pharma claims lower prices will mean giving up miracle
medicationsexecutive pay and bonuses.Haha no they meant what they said.
They’re not giving up their pay/bonuses.
The correct answer is neither.
Miracle drugs are almost exclusively funded, or heavily subsidized, by the public sector. Typically through NIH grants, or other public funding mechanisms through the University system.
R&D budgets for a big pharma go to things like reformulating existing brand name drugs, to prevent them going generic as they are supposed to under current law. Or other high return, reduced effort, drugs i.e. new dick pills, narcotics, etc.
Executive pay and bonuses are not going anywhere, no matter what happens with these drug prices. They will cut their company to the bone, and then collude with private equity to take them private and gut it, before they ever considered cutting down their bonuses or stock options.
This is correct. We pay for R&D, they keep all the profits.
I benefit from an orphan drug, and the R&D was most definitely subsidised by the public purse.
My insurance pays a few grand a month for it.
The mfg coupon covers most of the rest, minus a copay.
This is the second iteration of the original drug. The first hasn’t meaningfully fallen in price and only the original company can manufacture and distribute the generic even under the name of competitors.
There was no breakthrough in the second iteration, and the logic to solve the “problem” they solved was straightforward. So now I pay more, for an anecdotally less effective version that addresses a risk irrelevant to me but present in the original.
There is yet a third iteration on the way.
Shock revelations:
- pharma companies are greedy and will double dip against both government subsidies and patients/insurance at every opportunity.
- XX Pharma didn’t pay for the original R&D, my gov did.
- if one replaces Na with a/several similar elements, one still ends up with a salt, often resulting in a drug variant that “doesn’t affect blood pressure” and offers no other real benefits, nor risks.
- Clinical trials for said alternative salt are broadly leas expensive than for the original. That does not result in lower prices.
Nationalise pharma research, if not the manufacturers.
Also, generics are often manufactured in countries with, shall we say, fewer controls and regulations. Know who makes those pills and where. If you can’t stomach the FDA reports on that manufacturer, find a pharmacy who will sell you something else…
Wolves explain why eating sheep is actually good for the sheep. If elves are forced to become vegetarians, the sheep will suffer more…
Giving up miracle medications from them
How many people already suffer today or die early because of inadequate care and lack of affordable medications?
Fuck their hypothetical diminished future profits and solve today’s real problems that will save lives and increase quality of life.
For one, pharma is hugely profitable
This is just like Uber and Lyft threatening to pull out of markets when the taxes go up a bit. The horror, they’ll have slightly shittier margins and can’t survive with slightly less profit
Without price controls only the rich will be able to afford those “miracle” cures anyway.
This hits the point already. Look at those weight loss drugs that help people lose weight and are needed by certain other people.
Look at all the celebrities all of a sudden on them and regular people’s insurance won’t cover them. The regular folks who need them have trouble getting them as a result.
Until they can cure cancer they have no leverage
half of budgets for pharma companies is spent on marketing. Discourage that and they will be forced to spend more on R&D.
You can pass a law to ban pharma commercials on the grounds that prescriptions should be prescribed by doctors. You could also simply tax marketing spending as though it were the same as profits, applying corporate taxes to marketing spending.
Even if they’re right, that just means I won’t be able to afford those “Miracle Medications” anyway…
Big pharma is full of shit. And the fact that they are admitting that the only way they’ll look for a “miracle drug” to extort sick people’s money by grossly overcharging is if they can extort sick people’s money on current drugs by grossly overcharging is fucking disgusting. They all should be hung.
