Why US medications are too expensive - ForumDaily
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Why are the medications too expensive in the USA?

US President Donald Trump recently introduced a program whose goal is to lower prices for medicines, especially for those that are given only by prescription. The US leader is outraged that pharmaceutical companies set unbelievable prices simply because they can.

Фото: Depositphotos

Edition Rtvi spoke about why pharmaceutical companies have almost no restrictions on setting prices for their products.

Pharmacist Rachel Raentovich admitted that the cost of drugs in America is constantly growing.

“New drugs are more expensive, more expensive, more expensive. There is a medicine for Hepatitis C; a dose for a 3-month course will cost about one hundred thousand dollars,” said the pharmacist.

It sounds impressive, but this is not the limit. For example, the annual course of a new cancer drug, approved in America recently, will cost the patient $ 156 thousand. And the cure for muscular dystrophy is in $ 300 thousands. The most expensive drug in the world is recognized Soliris - $ 409,5 thousand per year. It helps those suffering from a rare disorder of the immune system. Those in America 8 thousands of people. Without medicine, doctors give them no more than 10 years of life. The manufacturer is not concerned about the question whether these patients will be able to pay for the cherished injection of $ 35 thousand a month. After all, for Soliris there is no alternative, but the state cannot intervene - the US authorities do not control prices.

“In Europe it is much cheaper, because the price of medicines is controlled by the state. There is no such control here,” Raentovich said.

“In some cases, tablets that cost a couple of dollars abroad, in America - the same tablet, with the same composition, in the same packaging, manufactured in the same factory - costs hundreds of dollars. It’s dishonest, it’s outrageous and it shouldn’t happen!” Trump said.

And the president is not exaggerating - American medicines can indeed be cheaper outside of America, because they fall under the laws of the countries where they are exported.

Jonathan Yigli from Pennsylvania once every three months travels hundreds of kilometers to Canada and back to save on medicine for his son. Abroad it costs three times cheaper.

“Here it is, my smuggling. In Canada, it costs $ 1 266, and in the US it costs $ 3 808. mission accomplished", Yeagley said.

A man would be happy if Trump figured out the prices, but before that the White House owner would have to somehow settle issues with the powerful pharmaceutical lobby in Washington.

The price of any pill starts with calculating the funds spent on the development of the formula, research, clinical trials, lobbying at the Washington State Agency, distributing patents, then the production of advertising and promotion in the media, plus the possible legal costs.

Out of every ten thousand synthesized drugs, only one is brought to the level of commercial implementation. It takes about 10 years of operation and an average of $ 2,5 billion. And when a new drug went from a test tube to a pharmacy, the producer, who received a patent, actually becomes the monopolist of its release and sets prices at its discretion. Sometimes it looks like a robbery in broad daylight. Although it would seem, pharmaceutical companies, like doctors, should save people, and not kill at exorbitant prices.

The most famous example is the case Turing Pharmaceuticals. Having bought the right to medicine Drprim - it is used in the treatment of parasitic infections and, among other things, is prescribed to patients with HIV - the company the next day increased the cost of the drug by 4000%: from $ 18 to $ 750 per pill. Such arrogance angered the whole country, and under public pressure Turing reduced the price - but only to $ 375. In the UK, the same medicine, albeit from another company, costs only 60 cents. In America, the same cheap alternative to this medicine or, as it is called here, generic - not.

With headaches, many Americans take Advil. In his television advertising claim that it is the fastest and most effective remedy for headaches. But it turns out that by succumbing to advertising, people overpay huge sums. Dear Advil in fact, an ordinary Ibuprofen, which stands nearby, on the same shelf, but costs two times cheaper. This is called pharmacists generic - Cheap analogue of patented drugs.

According to doctors, there is usually no difference between the patented medicine and its cheaper “brother”.

“The ingredients must match. It happens, of course, that they say that I want brand, because generic I tried it and it doesn't help me. But for the doctor it doesn’t matter whether this is ibuprofen or this advil"- explained doctor Boris Ripa.

However, not all medicines have such an analogue. Patents in America can hold from 5 to 12 years. And only after this period the composition of the drug becomes available for mass production of cheaper generic. Reducing the term of the patent would be beneficial to buyers, but not to manufacturers: at the time of going on sale genericbrand drug loses 80% of sales.

“America is where we're trying to balance funding research and developing new drugs while holding back the onslaught of cheaper competitors,” explained Chip Davis, a spokesman for the pharmaceutical company.

Therefore, the interests of pharmaceutical giants on Capitol Hill represent a powerful lobby - it is compared to gunsmith by its influence. Over the past 10 years, more than $ 2 billions have been spent on promoting the interests of drug manufacturers. The investment paid off: 15 once introduced bills to lower drug prices to Congress, but none of them even got to hear the relevant committees.

Now Donald Trump has taken the case, but it is not yet clear how the matter will end.

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