Why do Americans accept the argument that they have to bear the cost of drug R&D for the world?

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

Americans do know that the same drugs are used worldwide, right?
Americans do know that EVERYONE ELSE pays far less, right?

We pay more because we are made to pay more. This is one area that the de-regulating free market types want to KEEP heavily regulated and restricted because they have a stranglehold on American citizens where drugs are concerned.

If this topic EVER comes up in the media, which it rarely does, I always seem to hear the argument that pharmaceuticals are so expensive because of the amount of time and research needed to bring a drug to market. Fine, I'll even accept that ( although I have read that actually they spend more money on marketing and getting you to ask your Doctor if Pismor is right for you) But, back to my OP question - why is that burden placed solely and squarely on the backs of US citizens? Here's the answer-

Because we allow it.

[raccoon]

1. I agree. So what do we do about it? nt

[hobbit709]

2. The cost of R&D is miniscule

compared to what Big Pharma spends on advertising.
The year before Claritin became over the counter, the company that makes it spent more on TV advertising that Coca-Cola or Budweiser.

[Truth4Justice]

5. Many "new" meds are just made by switching a few molocules around. Not much R&D involved.

[Canuckistanian]

3. Drug companies see Americans as an easy mark

They know that with the American system, paying a few million to some politicians (spread out, of course), will reap HUNDREDS of millions of profit.

That's why you have have laws preventing the states or the federal government from negotiating for mass buys at a discount. Or massive ad campaigns for drugs you probably don't need. Or tax breaks in exchange for illusory job creation.

The drug companies can't do that in Canada. We REGULATE, control and BARGAIN with drug companies.

We keep them on a short leash.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

4. They see us as an easy mark because we are

This is one area where there can be no mistake that our government colludes openly with a specific industry at the expense of their citizens.

This is just one more instance where we HAVE to recognize that it is Repubs and Dems both.

[Canuckistanian]

8. I'm constantly amazed at people's attitude to drug prices

Some are trying to lobby for easier access to Canadian drugs, but that misses the point entirely.

They're blind to the reasons that drugs in America COST so much more in the first place.

Remember that story about the asthma inhalers in SiCKO?

Sure, the Cuban govt. massively subsidizes the cost of drugs. But MOST of the savings come because the entire Cuban government is bargaining for large quantities of drugs.

I really thought SiCKO would open some eyes in America. I was wrong.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

11. It's true that it misses the entire point

of cost in the first place but it's just the little band-aid remedy that would help a lot of people who have to decide between food and medicine.

Our government won't even lobby for the costs of Drugs for MEDICAID for God's sake - an area where it IS CLEARLY their responsibility to see that the government gets the lowest possible cost on behalf of the taxpayers footing the bill.

I try not to discuss this stuff too often because my implode factor goes to 11 and soon I'll need a prescription to keep it under control.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

9. And our government PROTECTS us from you Canucks and your cheap drugs!

They don't ALLOW us to drive over the border to get cheaper prescriptions because they might harm us and they are only thinking about us. No, wouldn't want to encourage a REAL free North American Trade where an American might get some benefit by getting an identical item cheaper.

Wait, I forgot about how all you Canadians have that big problem with fake drugs and how you're all dropping all over the streets in Toronto and Quebec because of your phony prescriptions. That's a big scandal that appears almost daily in your papers, right?

[Canuckistanian]

14. Yes, we Canadians are dropping like flies

And it's a misnomer even to use the phrase "Canadian drugs".

Sure, we manufacture some here, but the vast majority of our drugs come from the same factory that yours do.

And furthermore, our Health Protection Branch, our equivalent to your FDA, was modelled on your FDA, using the same safety protocols and quality controls.

And in some ways, we've improved on that model. As a regulatory agency, we're MUCH less resistant to drug company influence. It's not zero, but at least they don't run our drug licensing process.

[MinM]

6. Shaft Our Nation

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x127997

[Phred42]

7. We have allowed Greed to trump everything

[Romulox]

10. We have a bizarre idea that we can be cutthroats in the marketplace, but "one nation"

when mr. free-tradin' corporate-raider isn't feeling so good. We are a nation of obese, delusional infants.

[Pale Blue Dot]

12. I don't think that is the crucial issue.

Frankly, the "world's richest nation" does so little for the rest of the world these days that I don't mind helping to finance cures that will help everyone.

The REAL issue, as someone pointed out upthread, is that our government refuses to bargain to get the best price for us.

Let's not eliminate the one nice thing we do for this world, OK?

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

15. Not only is it not the crucial issue, it's no issue at all.

I don't think I made my point very well in the OP. I was trying to make the point that it is a straw man justification whenever some one asks the very obvious question - Hey! How come Americans pay more for their prescriptions than anyone else?

The R&D answer is guaranteed to come up and the pharma spokeperson or right wing apologist will go on and on about the costs of bringing drugs to market as if that was the answer. It obviously isn't the answer. The answer is that every single fricking country in the world negotiates and regulates the cost of prescription drugs for the benefit of their citizens. We are the only poor saps who have people representing us who believe that our health and welfare is less important than their campaign contributions and future lobbying jobs. They prove it over and over and over.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

13. The U.S. is one of the few countries in the world that doesn't regulate drug prices

or ban the advertising of prescription drugs.

The drug companies swarm to it like flies to an open jar of honey.

In this and other matters, Americans are ill-informed. Fewer than 20% ever travel abroad or taken any interest in what's happening overseas. In American popular culture, knowing stuff makes you a "pointy headed intellectual," which is a BAD thing in the Middle American mind.