Drug Exec Tries to DEFEND Charging $763 PER PILL

Amazing how they continue to get away with it. This is just criminal:

In a video that has gone viral, Porter is shown confronting the pharmaceutical executive on Wednesday over his financial compensation during a hearing on runaway drug prices. The California Democrat said Celgene more than tripled the price of cancer drug Revlimid to $765 a pill, from $215 in 2005, without significantly improving the treatment. Alles received a $500,000 bonus connected to higher profits from Revlimid in the last two years he served as chief executive of Celgene, Porter said.

"Do you know what this number is," Porter asked Alles after writing the figure "$13 million" on a whiteboard at her side. Alles responded that he didn't know but that it looked like his compensation.

"So to recap here, the drug didn't get any better, the cancer patients didn't get any better — you just got better at making money. You just refined your skills at price-gouging," Porter said.

CBS

It was amusing seeing this executive twist and turn at the thought of having to justify the unjustifiable but we all know the outcome in the end. He'll go back to his mansion and continue his high lifestyle. This is an issue that has been lingering for years, the sky high cost of drugs in our market. It's just criminal. I'll also give credit to the Trump administration for taking some action on this matter, even though Trump's executive action faces an uphill battle:

Trump Signs New Executive Order On Prescription Drug Prices

A Department of Health and Human Services official said the agency "doesn't comment on the rulemaking process" when asked how soon this could take effect and what testing a payment model looks like in practice.

"The president may be frustrated that he didn't reach a deal with drugmakers as his announced action is merely a demonstration, and it is very hard to see how it could have any impact in the near future," said Ian Spatz, a health policy consultant and former drug company executive.

For a president who prides himself on his deal-making skills, the month and a half since he first signed an order on drug pricing is ending without a deal.

Props to the president for at least trying, I'll give him credit for this. Unfortunately the drug companies have a stranglehold on DC, and it's going to take more Americans to stand up against this injustice. If we don't, we'll continue to see stories like the woman being charged $32,093 just to give birth, or a single Epipen costing the average allergy sufferer $300, where it would typically cost $38 elsewhere in the world. The system is a mess.

More needs to be done.

a reply to: Southern Guardian

I have never understood how they get away with charging magnitudes more in the US, for the exact same "pill"!

I take a maintenance type of drug that I get a prescription for every 3 months.
in America this drug cost me $400 for a 30-day prescription.
Here in this country I get a 90-day prescription at a cost of about $3.40 or about 400 yen.
That's for a 3-month prescription.

And also by the way it is the same brand name that you buy or you get prescribed in America and even throughout the whole world too.

It's nothing about a profit motive system that has really very little little concern about the person's health but trust me some drugs actually do work but I'm on a maintenance program whether it's working or not I don't really know because it's a maintenance program and if I quit taking this drug I have been advised not to so I who knows.

originally posted by: LookingAtMars
a reply to: Southern Guardian

I have never understood how they get away with charging magnitudes more in the US, for the exact same "pill"!

Because the system lets them! I'm no Trump fan, but I hope he makes headway with getting this crap under control

This what happens when insurance companies and governments start paying for prescriptions 🤫

This is much deeper than the drug companies.
Insurance companies are a huge part if this problem.
Hospitals have contracts with insurance companies that set their prices and big pharma is in the mix as well to make sure everyone gets their cut.


This is the reason that I was so against Obamacare.
That plan only dealt with one aspect of the issue resulting in much higher costs.
Doing nothing would have been a better plan.

He should have focused on lower the cost of healthcare and pharmaceuticals and then insurance rates would have dropped so everyone could afford it.

originally posted by: xuenchen
This what happens when insurance companies and governments start paying for prescriptions 🤫

Except insurance companies pay no where near those amounts. Actually, its only the end user that gets #ed over. We probably deserve it though.

originally posted by: xuenchen
This what happens when insurance companies and governments start paying for prescriptions 🤫

No, actually, in most civilised places on the planet there are price controls, as often the govt is involved in health care. I agree 100% on the insurance companies

originally posted by: AScrubWhoDied

originally posted by: xuenchen
This what happens when insurance companies and governments start paying for prescriptions 🤫

Except insurance companies pay no where near those amounts. Actually, its only the end user that gets #ed over. We probably deserve it though.

That’s most of the story.
They have contracts setting agreed on prices and the hospitals show losses on their expenses.
It’s how so many “non profit” hospitals make so much money.
One near me is like a small city and keeps expanding.

Medicare has bought a lot of hospital expansions.

Yeah all good and all but
Are the prices cheaper on those drugs in overseas countries or are they subsidised by the government
In Australia the government subsidises health, doesn’t mean it’s a cheap product to purchase wholesale, just at the consumers end after the subsidy is kicked in

a reply to: Southern Guardian

And that was after raising it from $215 per pill?! What the hell!!!! $215 for one pill for CANCER PATIENTS is disgusting enough, but then they raised it to almost $800? I bet, too, that they rigged the dosage of each pill so that it’s only effective if the patient takes several a day.

Obamacare is not the answer, but neither is the answer to keep things as they are. I fear, though, that what we actually need to do is to dismantle the ability for our representatives to be in bed with all of these industries with which they make themselves rich: big pharmaceutical, big banking, defense contractors/military industrial complex, big oil, and now, big tech, and media/communications (including internet).

One of the reasons the Biden sympathy ad about his son dying from cancer pissed me off so much and was so insulting is stories like your OP. If he actually thinks we believe he used Obamacare, he’s further into dementia than we think. Nor did he use any other regular-person healthcare. No doubt he and his family would never be charged $800 or $215 or even a nickel for any drugs or treatments his son needed. Those people have no idea what reality is like for the vast majority of us. And I’m not singling Joe out on the issue, because ALL of our representatives and past Presidents and I’m sure the current President have no idea anymore what it’s like to pay what we rubes do.

Socialism isn’t the answer; government-sponsored health care is not the answer. But the way it is now is not the answer either. Insurance companies, empowered by our lawmakers past and present, have partnered with pharmaceutical and completely enriched themselves at the regular person’s expense. We need to look into the lobbying, past and present, around the health care issue, and see the progression of our system getting to how it is today, and severely correct whomever and whatever needs to be corrected.

Thanks for the thread, Southern.

The high price of prescriptions in the Unites States is why there are many Americans purchasing their prescriptions from Canada and other countries.....legally, at much lower prices.

a reply to: LookingAtMars

I dont agree with it but as I heard one time it takes a couple billion to take a drug from idea to market, since most of the western world has legal limits on what they can charge, the US is one of the last to consider it.

Since the average drug only has about 10 years of marketability to make that money back, since everyone else says only a buck a pill or whatever they have to go to other areas to try and make that money back.

I dont like it, but there has to be some money coming in to fund the research and development.

Since the rest of the west rushed to mandate prices, we got hosed but hey europe has theirs they can continue to look down on us for funding their cheap drugs.

originally posted by: Irishhaf
a reply to: LookingAtMars

I dont agree with it but as I heard one time it takes a couple billion to take a drug from idea to market, since most of the western world has legal limits on what they can charge, the US is one of the last to consider it.

Since the average drug only has about 10 years of marketability to make that money back, since everyone else says only a buck a pill or whatever they have to go to other areas to try and make that money back.

I dont like it, but there has to be some money coming in to fund the research and development.

Since the rest of the west rushed to mandate prices, we got hosed but hey europe has theirs they can continue to look down on us for funding their cheap drugs.

Yeah, the big problem is that it cost a lot of money and time to develop a drug. Not only that, the market for some drugs is pretty limited. Think about it. It might cost $1 billion to develop a drug that maybe only 50,000 people need. So each person needs to spend $20,000 just for the company to breakeven on the $1 billion investment.

The US subsidizes the rest of the world. The companies aren't allowed to charge market prices in Europe, so they just raise the price in the US to cover the losses in other markets.

Healthcare is a complex problem with many different issues. Unfortunately, the market was screwed up with government involvement and more government involvement is not the answer.

originally posted by: Irishhaf
a reply to: LookingAtMars

I dont agree with it but as I heard one time it takes a couple billion to take a drug from idea to market, since most of the western world has legal limits on what they can charge, the US is one of the last to consider it.

Since the average drug only has about 10 years of marketability to make that money back, since everyone else says only a buck a pill or whatever they have to go to other areas to try and make that money back.

I dont like it, but there has to be some money coming in to fund the research and development.

Since the rest of the west rushed to mandate prices, we got hosed but hey europe has theirs they can continue to look down on us for funding their cheap drugs.

Not buying the "billions to market" narrative. There's likely a very good reason not a single one of these companies have ever actually published their costs.

Makes it impossible to know. Fortunately for them though, there are no shortage of "studies" that benefit them.

Despite the data not being public. Like I said, we probably deserve it.

a reply to: Edumakated

Government didnt cause the price of the drug mentioned in the OP to increase 500 dollars. The desire to make an additional half a million on top of a 12 million dollar payout did.

I get it, government can do horrible things, but turning a blind eye to doing horrible things is really silly.

originally posted by: AScrubWhoDied

originally posted by: Irishhaf
a reply to: LookingAtMars

I dont agree with it but as I heard one time it takes a couple billion to take a drug from idea to market, since most of the western world has legal limits on what they can charge, the US is one of the last to consider it.

Since the average drug only has about 10 years of marketability to make that money back, since everyone else says only a buck a pill or whatever they have to go to other areas to try and make that money back.

I dont like it, but there has to be some money coming in to fund the research and development.

Since the rest of the west rushed to mandate prices, we got hosed but hey europe has theirs they can continue to look down on us for funding their cheap drugs.

Not buying the "billions to market" narrative. There's likely a very good reason not a single one of these companies have ever actually published their costs.

Makes it impossible to know. Fortunately for them though, there are no shortage of "studies" that benefit them.

Despite the data not being public. Like I said, we probably deserve it.

The median cost to bring a drug to market is $1 billion...

Cost to Bring Drug to Market

In this study, which included 63 of 355 new therapeutic drugs and biologic agents approved by the US Food and Drug Administration between 2009 and 2018, the estimated median capitalized research and development cost per product was $985 million, counting expenditures on failed trials.

The data is public in that most pharma companies are publicly traded. You can easily look up the R&D expenditures on a companies SEC 10k filing.

The drug in the OP was about 200$ before..why the increase?

a reply to: Edumakated

The companies aren't allowed to charge market prices in Europe, so they just raise the price in the US to cover the losses in other markets.

I still don't understand how they get away with that.

I guess it comes down to if the world wants new drugs developed. We, the Americans, have to pay so big pharma can get even richer.

There is an ever increasing battle between Pharmaceutical companies and Insurance Companies.

Consumers are caught in the middle, because Insurance companies are increasingly forcing customers to to pay 20% of a drug's cost now at the pharmacist, instead of a $20 co-pay.

A big problem, and the reason why Covid-19 deaths in the USA are nearing 200,000, is because Americans are sicker than people in most other "developed" nations.

Sicker = More Demand for Medications (drugs).

More Demand = Higher Price.