Ex-hedge funder buys rights to AIDS drug and raises price from $13.50 to $750 per pill

[byke]

Or, it takes 90 days in Mexico.

 

[dmaxAl]

It's not really that easy. While the generic drugmaker can skip a lot of studies including expensive clinical studies, they still have to develop their formulation, their supply chain, and prove equivalence with their manufacturing, chemistry controls, drug stability, and analytical methods. It takes years, and in the meantime, this guy gets to rob folks.

So hang on I'm obv missing something here - it sounds like there is still only one manufacturer, but that Mr Dickhead bought line time as you say?
So it must have been some binding prior contract that would cause the primary mfg'er to give up line time so someone else can make more money on that same product??

 

[CoorsLight]

So hang on I'm obv missing something here - it sounds like there is still only one manufacturer, but that Mr Dickhead bought line time as you say?
So it must have been some binding prior contract that would cause the primary mfg'er to give up line time so someone else can make more money on that same product??

No, Mr. Dickhead bought the rights to the product from the sole owner/manufacturer. Dickhead bought the formulation, the analytical methods, the chemistry and manufacturing controls, etc., all of which have already been vetted by regulatory agencies. All he needs to do is continue manufacturing, using the line time that has probably already been scheduled for the next few years. I doubt the original company owned a dedicated manufacturing line for this product; it's probably actually manufactured by Sanofi or AZ or something.

 

[Reli]

I like how he claims he's going to invest in R&D to create a better replacement for it.

 

[stangmx13]

i really hope that pharmaceuticals stop being a free market economy in our lifetime. supply and demand just doesnt work when the buyer will die (or suffer) if they dont purchase, so theres never a market force to drive costs down.

 

[CocoLoco]

No, Mr. Dickhead bought the rights to the product from the sole owner/manufacturer. Dickhead bought the formulation, the analytical methods, the chemistry and manufacturing controls, etc., all of which have already been vetted by regulatory agencies. All he needs to do is continue manufacturing, using the line time that has probably already been scheduled for the next few years. I doubt the original company owned a dedicated manufacturing line for this product; it's probably actually manufactured by Sanofi or AZ or something.

This.

And I'm guessing he's banking on the gubmint getting involved and subsidizing the cost to patients. I would prefer the gubmint subsidize competition by paying another firm to produce it.

 

[Reli]

i really hope that pharmaceuticals stop being a free market economy in our lifetime. supply and demand just doesnt work when the buyer will die (or suffer) if they dont purchase, so theres never a market force to drive costs down.

But then we'd be reliant on the government to create every drug. How much motivation would there be for them to do so?

 

[CoorsLight]

i really hope that pharmaceuticals stop being a free market economy in our lifetime. supply and demand just doesnt work when the buyer will die (or suffer) if they dont purchase, so theres never a market force to drive costs down.

Then there goes all your R&D. You'd better hope that all the drugs that may treat any of your ailments will have already been invented by the time you take the free market out of pharma.

Also, the generic market does eventually drive down costs to patients, after the initial patent expires.

You do have a point, though. Often, this comes down to life and death. At that point, they have you over a barrel.

I think single-payer health care would do more to help the situation than socializing pharma R&D itself.

 

[Blankpage]

i really hope that pharmaceuticals stop being a free market economy in our lifetime. supply and demand just doesnt work when the buyer will die (or suffer) if they dont purchase, so theres never a market force to drive costs down.

Companies are also free to develop more profitable products that don't have price controls.

 

[m_asim]

Why are you guys outraged by this? Not that shit like this hasn't happened before!

If you travel just a little bit, you'd be amazed how cheap the same drug that is sold for $$$ in US is sold overseas. The pharma companies use American patients as a cash cow. Making money to recuperate the research funds my ass!

The ails of this lie in the failure of campaign finance that BOTH Democrats and Republicans colluded to defeat. The big pharma spends millions of dollars so that our representatives, work on their behalf instead of the sheeple they supposedly should be fighting for as their representatives.

 

[stangmx13]

Then there goes all your R&D. You'd better hope that all the drugs that may treat any of your ailments will have already been invented by the time you take the free market out of pharma.

Also, the generic market does eventually drive down costs to patients, after the initial patent expires.

You do have a point, though. Often, this comes down to life and death. At that point, they have you over a barrel.

I think single-payer health care would do more to help the situation than socializing pharma R&D itself.

oh i know there are significant hurdles to overcome. if everyone could not be a dick about it like this guy, thered be a lot less problems.

pharma R&D is comical. it seems that pharma enjoys inventing diseases just as much as inventing drugs for those diseases. restless leg syndrome, . theres incentive for big pharma to expend effort on drugs that they can charge a ton for that require lifetime use. that may or may not align with diseases that affect a lot of people. IMO, R&D decisions need to also have a moral component instead of just seemingly having only a monetary one.

perhaps patent expiration is a potential solution. give someone 5yrs instead of 20yrs and see what happens.

 

[CoorsLight]

oh i know there are significant hurdles to overcome. if everyone could not be a dick about it like this guy, thered be a lot less problems.

pharma R&D is comical. it seems that pharma enjoys inventing diseases just as much as inventing drugs for those diseases. restless leg syndrome, . theres incentive for big pharma to expend effort on drugs that they can charge a ton for that require lifetime use. that may or may not align with diseases that affect a lot of people. IMO, R&D decisions need to have a moral component instead of just a monetary one.

perhaps patent expiration is a potential solution. give someone 5yrs instead of 20yrs and see what happens.

I agree about the moral component. Take the MBAs, who in general are systematically indoctrinated to ignore any consideration of morals or ethics, out of pharma business development, and we'd be on the right track.

20 years is barely enough as it is, though. The clock starts ticking on the patent years before commercial launch. A drug company is lucky to get 7 years in the market with patent protection.

 

[954Rider]

The rich get richer, and the poor and dying.....well they can all just.....die, for all he cares. Truthfully, its pretty much how everybody feels deep inside. You can feel sorry for people that this is happening to, but unless you're one of them, you're not gonna do shit about it but talk some shit on the internet. Are you prepared to pick up a gun and go to battle for those who can no longer afford their AIDS medication? Didn't think so.

 

[stangmx13]

I agree about the moral component. Take the MBAs, who in general are systematically indoctrinated to ignore any consideration of morals or ethics, out of pharma business development, and we'd be on the right track.

20 years is barely enough as it is, though. The clock starts ticking on the patent years before commercial launch. A drug company is lucky to get 7 years in the market with patent protection.

ahh didnt know that patent protection started that early. w/ how slow the FDA is, that def sucks for them.

i cant imagine a solution right now that allows pharma to keep their revenue / R&D budgets AND brings prices down for sick people. if single-payer healthcare negotiates low prices, pharma either takes that price or sells nothing. perhaps theyll try to sell to the wealthy outside of insurance, but theres no way theyd make as much $$ there as with offering a drug nationwide. so i think their revenue must come down. its a situation that just results in the nation saying "sorry, too bad" to big pharma.... assuming we can ever make that decision in Washington. how fucked up the whole system is just makes my head spin.

 

[flying_hun]

The ails of this lie in the failure of campaign finance that BOTH Democrats and Republicans colluded to defeat. The big pharma spends millions of dollars so that our representatives, work on their behalf instead of the sheeple they supposedly should be fighting for as their representatives.

While I fucking hate the term "sheeple" which serves as an all purpose pejorative for anyone who doesn't totally agree with ME, I generally agree with your point. As long we have courts that define money as speech, only the very richest among us will have a voice. If you happen to agree with them, you're in luck. If you think they agree with you, you're delusional. It's always the other way around.

 

[Archimedes]

With a drug that's been around for that long, I'm assuming that the technology gains make it much easier to make than 62 years ago. Seems like a drug compounding company could easily undercut him and put him out of business pretty quickly.

It's not a compounding issue. This is an orphan drug/condition and there isn't enough revenue to justify anyone spending money to develop a generic equivalent. Before he bought it, this was a $5 million a year revenue drug. Nobody is going to invest a dollar on that small an opportunity.

He's a scumbag though and I wish the Feds would step in.

 

[bikeama]

This pill was only $1.00 a year ago. This should be criminal and subject of debate by anyone running for president. But planned parenthood is all we here about. WTF.

 

[bikeama]

It's not a compounding issue. This is an orphan drug/condition and there isn't enough revenue to justify anyone spending money to develop a generic equivalent. Before he bought it, this was a $5 million a year revenue drug. Nobody is going to invest a dollar on that small an opportunity.

He's a scumbag though and I wish the Feds would step in.

Thank you for making the point for single payer health care

 

[dmaxAl]

Thank you for making the point for single payer health care

Cos then the pill would be $10k and only available on the black market.

 

[CoorsLight]

The rich get richer, and the poor and dying.....well they can all just.....die, for all he cares. Truthfully, its pretty much how everybody feels deep inside. You can feel sorry for people that this is happening to, but unless you're one of them, you're not gonna do shit about it but talk some shit on the internet. Are you prepared to pick up a gun and go to battle for those who can no longer afford their AIDS medication? Didn't think so.

Although it might not be immediately apparent, there is middle ground between insurance-based health care and armed revolution.