
US drugmaker doubled price on potential coronavirus treatment - doener
https://www.ft.com/content/b7a21a16-6a1f-11ea-800d-da70cff6e4d3
======
hilbert42
In these circumstances, the only reasonable procedure for a government to take
is to warn pharmaceutical manufacturers that "if you do that then we'll
instantly nationalize you without compensation."

Moreover, this ought to be enshrined in law.

~~~
dumbfoundded
What should be done is hard to say b/c of R&D angles about producing a more
effective treatment. If the money is being put to R&D or even just enabling
the company to scale manufacturing, I'm pretty okay with that.

Better than nationalization I think would be restrictions on executive
compensation and dividends. Take away any personal upside from the decision-
makers.

~~~
jpster
> If the money is being put to R&D or even just enabling the company to scale
> manufacturing, I'm pretty okay with that.

That makes sense. On the other hand, the government has deep pockets. They
could buy the company, fund the R&D, and still keep the prices accessible.

In pandemics, this is what we want and need.

I’m also alive to all the ways in which these powers could lead to corruption
and overreach in ordinary times. I oppose the Patriot Act and abhor the wars
and states-of-emergency without-end. But I’m given to believe we are not in
ordinary times.

~~~
dumbfoundded
It's tough to know where to draw the line. There are roundabout ways like
loans, grants, tax breaks and a variety of other tools the government has
without nationalization.

Buying the company seems a little too much to me but it is an emergency. I
don't know enough about the details to know the right decision.

------
ajaygeorge91
The title is misleading.

The price hikes, however, came months before the coronavirus outbreak morphed
into a global pandemic, and well before physicians and scientists came to
believe chloroquine might prove an effective treatment.

In the past two weeks, Rising Pharmaceuticals slashed the price in half as
interest in the drug erupted.

A false news title is worse than pharma companies jacking up prices.

------
mtmail
Non paywalled source

"A drug maker recently doubled the price of chloroquine — but in response to
the coronavirus pandemic, it’s cutting it in half"
[https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/19/a-drug-maker-recently-
do...](https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/19/a-drug-maker-recently-doubled-the-
price-of-chloroquine-but-in-response-to-the-coronavirus-pandemic-its-cutting-
it-in-half/)

~~~
gentleman11
In other words, the price was reset back to its original after the Covid
outbreak was a known problem. This articles title is extremely misleading in
that case

~~~
bdcravens
Yes, and more to the point, the doubling of the price appears to be before it
was known (to the manufacturer) it was a potential treatment for COVID-19.

------
neonate
[http://archive.md/KWpFC](http://archive.md/KWpFC)

