U.S. drug company sues Canada for trying to lower cost of $700K-a-year drug

[nationalize the fed]

Alexion Pharmaceuticals argues federal government cannot limit price of blood disease medication

CBC News Posted: Sep 24, 2015

A U.S. drug company is taking the Canadian government to court for its attempt to lower the price of what has been called the world's most expensive drug.

'This is the single greatest threat to pricing of drugs in Canada ever.'
- Amir Attaran, health law expert

Alexion Pharmaceuticals has filed a motion in Federal Court, arguing that Canada's drug price watchdog has no authority to force the company to lower its price for Soliris



The company says in the court documents that the price of Soliris has not changed since it went on the market about six years ago and that the price difference between the two countries reflects the difference in exchange rates between the U.S. and Canada.

The medication is approved to treat two rare blood diseases that affect about one in every one million people. A 12-month treatment costs about $700,000 in Canada, while in the U.S. it costs about $669,000...snip

...The company has not yet returned calls for comment.
MORE: http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/u-s-drug-company-sues-canada-for-trying-to-lower-cost-of-700k-a-year-drug-1.3242172

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Analysis: How pharmaceutical company Alexion set the price of the world's most expensive drug

Cost of one of world's most expensive drugs shrouded in corporate secrecy

By Kelly Crowe, CBC News Posted: Jun 25, 2015

What if your life depended on a drug that cost half a million dollars a year, every year, for the foreseeable future?

That's the price of Soliris, one of the world's most expensive drugs.

It is the only medicine available for people suffering from two ultra-rare diseases: paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) and atypical haemolytic uremic syndrome (AHUS)...

So how can one drug cost more than the annual income of all but a tiny percentage of households?

The reason is locked in the so-called "black box" of orphan drug pricing, where actual research and development costs are carefully guarded secrets known only to drug company executives...
More: http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/how-pharmaceutical-company-alexion-set-the-price-of-the-world-s-most-expensive-drug-1.3125251

[pipoman]

1. If drug companies can't control their greed

They should be obligated to sell their products inside the US for the same price as their lowest market and not a cent more.

[FreakinDJ]

2. Why do we give them patents for indefinite years

We should make them prove their costs to maintain the patent

[DetlefK]

3. Normal patents last only 20 years.

I have heard that medical patents last longer but don't know details.

[newfie11]

4. How can the CEOs live with themselves

Hope there's a special place in hell for them

[B Calm]

5. Healthcare for profit sucks!