(March 25, 2014 at 6:01 pm)alpha male Wrote: Drugs, particularly new ones, are expensive because it takes a shitload of money to develop one, there's no guarantee of success, and the people developing them are not in it because of their big hearts - they want a huge payoff if it hits. I've seen over $100 million go into a drug only to have it fail phase 3 testing and become immediately worthless. If it had made it, believe me, they weren't giving it out for cost of production.
No shit, really? Wow, I had no idea. /sarcasm
How does reformulating drugs about to fall off the patent rolls so they can be repatented fit into all of this? How about the corrupt system that pushes the newest drugs in lieu of equally effective non-patent alternatives? I've witnessed the health care system pushing the latest psych meds (often for off-label use) on people who were *unemployed and homeless* when alternatives that the patient might actually be able to afford (and might also be FDA approved for the condition being treated).
Many of these drugs are out of patent protection outside of the U.S. They charge us more because they can.
