Is there anyone here who works at pharma/ pharma tech to understand why drug pricing is so challenging in the US especially insulin and other medications.
It takes 10-20 years to get a drug in the market. The cost to get it to market is crazy
And yet you can go to Europe and buy the same drug for 1/10 the cost in the US
Absolutely, but there is less regulations in Europe
It’s expensive because it can be. The insurance industry basically insulates drug companies from any semblance of competition. Same reason hospitals will charge $700 for a bag of saline. It’s all so very broken.
Take words from someone who has spent a lifetime in the pharma industry and led a few pricing projects - it's business. The pharma industry is a messy hole. It takes 8-10 years to develop a drug, 2 years to lay it's launch foundation, and it stays on patent for 8-10 years after which it goes generic. So one has to recover all the costs of RnD, and other expenses in that time frame. There are many drugs which do not enter the market inspite of 5-8 years of research, so there is no revenue generated from them. For every drug that is launched, there are several which don't. The PBMs take a bunch of revenue. There's a long process to get the drug in the list of drugs insured by the insurance companies. Most drugs have to be detailed face to face to the physicians, so their marketing doesn't come cheap. Digital marketing which is cheaper only accounts for 5-10% of total marketing expenses. The sales reps who detail the drugs to the physicians are highly qualified so their incentives are pretty good. Further, the industry is highly regulated. Because no one wants people to make money off of dying/sick people. This doesn't attract great talent into the pharma industry either. Many Americans cannot pay for the drugs/procedures. Even when their claims are denied by the insurance, they declare bankruptcy and bill it back to the pharma company. This costs a lot. At the end, everyone is trying to stay in business.
Every drug that makes the market has to recover the cost that goes towards the research of 10-15 others which don't get approved. Successful drugs get in the market at the tail end of the 20 year patent period and have a short time to bank before generic drug makers (who have zero research investment) start selling the same drugs for a few pennies per unit, making US drug prices look even more ridiculous. Then there are a few evil execs who use all of the above arguments to prices drugs several orders higher than would be reasonable. Trials, patents, and regulations need to be revised.
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