
Ask HN: Are YC or anyone else funding generic drug disrupters? - tomcam
Seems like an obvious choice for VC would be a generic drug company. To take a single example,  even “generic” epipens costing $300 or so in the US, a new take on generic drugs feels like a strong candidate for VC funding. What am I missing?
======
davismwfl
These types of businesses are getting created and funded (just not in large
quantities like tech companies), and you will not find it here on HN or really
in typical VC tech circles.

Medical devices and Pharmaceuticals are not easy or simple things to bring to
market and you can't "hack" around the FDA to short circuit the timeframes
etc. Even using approved formularies there are very detailed testing
requirements which take significant amounts of time. Which leads to costs not
being so inexpensive once all the research, development and market costs are
calculated. Obviously I agree the $300 epipen for example is insane and
although I am not sure how much can be trimmed there, I am sure it is fairly
large.

~~~
toomuchtodo
Generic Epi alternative you can get through CVS.

[https://www.cvs.com/content/epipen-
alternative](https://www.cvs.com/content/epipen-alternative)

------
muzani
Yes, YC is specifically requesting for startups who can make cheaper
pharmaceuticals:
[https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs/](https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs/)

------
nknealk
Look at news + stock price movement in the past 5 years on Teva and Mylan, two
of the largest generic makers in the world.

The outlook on the generic industry isn't great to say the least.

------
401kguy
Coincidentally, today Sequence Bio (YC S19) posted their Launch HN:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20986079](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20986079)

