
Nostrum Laboratories raises price of essential antibiotic by more than 400% - kiyanwang
https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/09/pharma-ceo-jacks-drug-price-400-citing-moral-requirement-to-make-money/
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drewbug01
It's not a popular opinion here, but I firmly believe that healthcare should
be publicly funded at all levels (research, treatment, etc) and free at the
point of service. Healthcare shouldn't be rationed on the basis of one's
economic output.

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coldcode
My dermatologist recommended a creme to me, but strangely I had to go to a
specialist pharmacy to get it as regular pharmacies would not sell it. Even
strangely when I talked them I found it was free. Afterwards I looked on the
internet and found the prescription cost after the free round is almost $4000
a tube. It also nothing special, just a common combo of two cheaper products
in a slightly higher dosage. There are similar products that cost $50 a tube.
This was one of the drugs that a set of Pharma execs recommended to jack the
price up to ridiculous prices; these folks went from company to company and
promoted this idea.

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alex_hitchins
Interesting thought, is it ethically sound to openly clone this drug and make
a generic or is that as bad as hiking up the price?

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goombastic
When the alternative is death and suffering, yes. Governments should simply
adopt the policy of least resistance and stop enforcing patent walls for
companies that do this type of price gouging.

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alex_hitchins
Completely agree. I'd like to see more governments doing this. I believe India
has created generics for their internal market for expensive drugs.

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clarkevans
It's this sort of behavior that has caused Intermountain and other health care
companies to join together to make a non-for-profit Civica Rx pharmaceutical
company to provide essential generics.

[https://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/intermountain-
and...](https://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/intermountain-and-six-
hospitals-officially-launch-not-profit-generic-drug-company-civica-rx)

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NPMaxwell
Economists routinely start textbooks by asserting that Economics is not about
morality. They say that Right and Wrong is for religions; Economics is a
Science. In the late 20th century, the idea that corporations served
stakeholders was replaced by the claim that the only purpose of corporations
was to serve stockholders. In spite of their shame and coyness, Economics and
Stockholders-First promoted ethical systems, making claims of Right and Wrong.
Statements that it is a "moral requirement" to "sell the product for the
highest price" is just honest reporting on what is taught in colleges and
business schools. Although, you probably won't be able to find a direct quote
making such a claim. Instead, you will find loose usage of terms like "should"
or "is expected to", as in "market players should maximize profits", or
"corporations are expected to maximize return on investment."

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Tor3
A telling quote:

"I agree with Martin Shkreli that when he raised the price of his drug he was
within his rights because he had to reward his shareholders... If he's the
only one selling it then he can make as much money as he can... We have to
make money when we can. The price of iPhones goes up, the price of cars goes
up, hotel rooms are very expensive."

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pojkofd00m
If everybody had the same "morale", the world would be doomed in weeks. I
tought only clever people ended up CEO, not amoral cowboys. The guy dosen't
even think about all the people he has an impact on... I would have laughted
my ass of 5 years ago if I red this thinking this was the biggest troll ever,
but to realize people actually think like this today is really sickening.

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danharaj
They've always thought like this.

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tirumaraiselvan
It's a very tricky situation. IMO the government should regulate pharma a
little bit so that they can't arbitrarily increase prices to 400% or some big
number in a short time span.

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D-Coder
Kelo v. City of New London

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelo_v._City_of_New_London](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelo_v._City_of_New_London)

The company should be seized by eminent domain and its assets sold to a
company that contracts to produce the drug(s) at a reasonable price.

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IWeldMelons
Here, in the former USSR this drug, known as Furadonin, is like dirt cheap,
bottom of the barrel cheap.

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patrickg_zill
My view is that drug prices in the United States should be capped at no more
than 10% over the lowest price that it is sold for in any of the developed
countries, such as Canada, Germany, UK etc.

How much does the company sell this antibiotic for, in Canada?

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mikeash
Or allow importing drugs from those countries, and market forces will make
that happen.

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fallingfrog
So much of our health care system's problems can be explained by fraud and
price fixing on a massive scale.. how obvious does it have to be for the an
investigation to begin?

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abraham_lincoln
Only in the US, correct?

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fallingfrog
I can't speak to how things are in other countries, but I haven't heard the
same stories of obvious fraud from anywhere but the US.

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downrightmike
Good, we are over-using them to the point they may become unusable in the
future.

