Many drugs about to plunge in price

After 35 years as an MD, I am amazed at some of the comments I see. Yes, R and D is very expensive and some recapture is necessary. Unfortunately prices are often unreasonably high and many of the "new" drugs are merely "me-too" drugs (minor variations of existing drugs with no new characteristics.... and almost always at same price!) or minor molecular changes, different delivery or dosing...  at the old price, or higher.

Generic pricing is often disappointing as well. Often the generic is produced by the same company, same factory, same pill with different code. In any event the price often remains HIGH to the consumer paying cash.... your insurance company gets a break, but you as an individual do not. Eventually, if there are enough producers of a generic AND it is a big seller, prices will come down but rarely to the $6 mentioned here. Sorry, but that's the truth.

What about the folks who do not have insurance coverage? Think they will be paying only a 6 dollar copay for their meds? Or will they have to pay the full price?

We need Medicare for all in this country period

That WILL BE full price. It will be generic which means that the drug company loses its monopoly on that drug and any drug company can make it. The price then drops like a stone. Before the patent runs out the drug company can charge a fortune because they are the only ones that can make it. Once that runs out they can't. Patent law is there to encourage companies to do R&D. Without it you have the "free rider" problem. If a company pays to do R&D and anyone can profit by it then it makes no sense to do so. You pay all the expenses and someone else gets the benefit.

I suspect the drug companies will respond to these expiring patents like they always have. They will develop and patent new and improved variants of their drugs, e.g., better time release, easier to digest, reduced side effects, whatever. Then they will push like hell to make it the new industry standard, which is another way of saying they will provide financial kickbacks and threaten medical providers and insurance companies with patient lawsuits if they don’t prescribe the new version. Patents may expire, but, drug racketeering will continue. However, you don’t have to buy into it. Just insist on the old generics you’ve been using all along. You can also drink tap water which is better for your teeth than bottled water.

Randall

"Its about time they came down in price. American is getting the shaft from Doctors and Drug companies. You know it is when some meds are several hundred dollars a month. This is ridiculas. Especially when drug reps are in Dr. offices buying lunches, donuts, and whatever it takes to get their meds passed out. And youo know its true."

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Do you have ANY idea what goes into getting a drug to market? Pretty sure not based on what you posted. It takes approximately 1 billion dollars to get one single drug to market for a pharmaceutical company. If ANYTHING goes wrong along the way of a drug it gets scrapped by the FDA and all research and money put into it is gone. Have you ever taken advil, tylenol, anything to help with pain, runny nose, ANYTHING? I'd venture to say yes, and it probably helped you out. So without the drug companies you would never have been able to do that. So please wise up and realize that drug companies aren't out to just rip everyone off as much as they can, they need to make money too and the cost of trying to find drugs that help people is astronomical. Are drug companies perfect? No, but NO corporation is. Pharmaceutical companies do quite a bit of good for the people of America and the world.

I see many people don't like my comment, but that is the way it is. Generics are nice and I'm not rich by any stretch of the imagination. I'm currently at the lower end of the middle class. Yet the main goal of a corporation is to make the shareholders (investors) wealthy. Why else would you funnel money into a company that won't make you a return. The 401k system is based on the profitability of public corporations.

There is greed in corporations, we all know that, but many corporations don't hire staff at minimum wage either. Corporations employ jobs. The higher your skill set, the higher your education and experience, the more valuable you are. Most people don't start out wealthy, but with hardwork and dedication you work your way up the ladder. Most executives have a history, they don't start off as execs, so they make more money. It isn't like the government who appoints people to positions that have no experience with that industry/field but are political allies of politicians.

There is a reason why envy is a sin. Jealousy is a productive trait of a society. People want cheaper products, but they also want higher wages as well. That is why much of our manufacturing has been sent overseas because we have high taxes, lots of redtape with employment regulations, workplace standards that accrue costs. The big government has really made it difficult because they are the greedy ones who want more and more and more.