03-11-2017, 07:47 AM
(01-16-2017, 02:20 AM)of the Warren Dew Wrote: First, perhaps the main reason they are cheaper is that alll the drug research is paid for by us, and they only pay the costs of manufacture.
I work for Pfizer. That's bullshit. If we no longer had the US market to gouge our gross margins would go down. We would have to close New Jersey. Good riddance, as far as we can tell they don't do anything. We would have to stop advertising and go with life cycle pricing. Life would go on, sales would go up in terms of kilograms (good for us) but down in terms of dollars (bad for the suits). The drug business would once again have something to do with developing, making and selling drugs--just like in the good old days. But that's just a pipe dream. In another decade there won't be anyone left who can remember the good old days.
The issue is simple. President Trump talked about having the government bargain for lower drug prices like other governments do. A bunch of suits from industry went to see him and after a brief meeting convinced his not to pursue this. In the span of a few hours they did more more their companies bottom line that a thousand researchers developing new products could. That's why the lion's share of the cost of drugs does not go to those who discover, develop, and make the products the drug companies sell, but to the suits.
That's why when we got taken over they closed all of our drug R&D. And they did so for all the R&D from the other companies Pfizer had acquired. They have closed half of the manufacturing facilities too, but they kept our corporate HQ. Apparently they still need the suits, they can do without the drug development scientists, and the manufacturing plants, but not the suits.