I can't believe I just did that

[Draft Dodger]

So, my daughter has been fighting some ear infections. Nothing severe, but enough to have her on antibiotics. The first prescription didn't quite knock it out, so they tried a different one. That didn't quite do it either, so now we're on the antibiotic #3. This one isn't cheap - $45 for a 100 ML bottle, of which we'll need two bottles.

Except that I just dropped one and spilled half a bottle over the kitchen floor. A $45 oopsie.

If I'm doing my math right, this stuff is about $1,700 a gallon. Maybe we need to invade a pharmaceutical company...

[JeeberD]

My dad is going through chemo for his leukemia right now, and one of his drugs ( a newer, experimental drug) costs $3000 per dose. Now, I'm not exactly sure how much of the drug constitutes a "dose", but it can't be much...

[PurdueBrad]

I just started shots for my Crohn's disease called Humira. They cost approximately $1,000 per shot. Luckily, thanks to the insurance (never thought I would say those words) I'm paying $4.33 per shot. That's good, because having to do them every two weeks would've been a hell of a hit in the pocket!

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by Draft Dodger

So, my daughter has been fighting some ear infections. Nothing severe, but enough to have her on antibiotics. The first prescription didn't quite knock it out, so they tried a different one. That didn't quite do it either, so now we're on the antibiotic #3. This one isn't cheap - $45 for a 100 ML bottle, of which we'll need two bottles.

Except that I just dropped one and spilled half a bottle over the kitchen floor. A $45 oopsie.

If I'm doing my math right, this stuff is about $1,700 a gallon. Maybe we need to invade a pharmaceutical company...

Look on the bright side...at least you don't have a $2500 mortgage!

(and you're not a divorced mom)

[Critch]

Fill the bottle back up with water and your wife need never know.

[Draft Dodger]

ok, cancer and crohn's. I feel far less put out right now.

[Buccaneer]

I have also heard an arthritis prescription costing thousands per dose.

[pol]
There was something on cnn a little while back talking about political donations. It appears that Big Pharma gives to the Dems, for some reason.
[/pol]

[bhlloy]

I work for a big health insurance company, and used to put the high cost pharmacy reports together. Really an eye-opener as to how much some of this stuff costs. I will never complain about how much health insurance costs again.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

I work for a big health insurance company, and used to put the high cost pharmacy reports together. Really an eye-opener as to how much some of this stuff costs. I will never complain about how much health insurance costs again.

I think where I disconnect is wondering if the prices some of these drugs command are actually reflected from costs in making them. I mean, I don't know crap about making pills, but I have always found it hard to believe that any little pill costs so much to make that companies can charge thousands of dollars for one.

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

I think where I disconnect is wondering if the prices some of these drugs command are actually reflected from costs in making them. I mean, I don't know crap about making pills, but I have always found it hard to believe that any little pill costs so much to make that companies can charge thousands of dollars for one.

R&D. And then after that, you might be dealing with a limited market depending on the malady.

[ThunderingHERD]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

I think where I disconnect is wondering if the prices some of these drugs command are actually reflected from costs in making them. I mean, I don't know crap about making pills, but I have always found it hard to believe that any little pill costs so much to make that companies can charge thousands of dollars for one.

Research & development costs hundreds of millions of dollars.

[Masked]

Originally Posted by ThunderingHERD

Research & development costs hundreds of millions of dollars.

Plus the vast majority of drugs in development never pan out, so the ones that do have to pay for their development and the other 10 drugs that didn't work.

[Chief Rum]

Hmm, well, that's a one time cost, though (albeit an exorbitant one). Do the cost of these drugs go down over time?

It seems to me that the price of drugs is one of the primary reasons we have the huge health care cost issues we have. Wouldn't it make more sense for the government to fund this research (or a healthy portion of it)? Then the economic hit of that R&D can be spread thinly over the entire population, as opposed to passing along all costs to the sick few. If you were to combine that with a pricing structure to enforce the companies to charge reasonable prices for "need" drugs, I think that would reduce health costs significantly. It would also introduce more public control of the R&D process and perhaps allow for glut to be cut off through more oversight (although, of course, since the government would be doing it, it might just replace that glut with glut of its own).

Does any of this make sense, or is it all too socialistic for people to consider?

[kcchief19]

Originally Posted by ThunderingHERD

Research & development costs hundreds of millions of dollars.

You left out marketing.

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

Look on the bright side...at least you don't have a $2500 mortgage!

(and you're not a divorced mom)

Never thought you would be a mom.

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by Cringer

Never thought you would be a mom.

I'm not (well, maybe in function at times but not biologically)...bit of an inside joke.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Hmm, well, that's a one time cost, though (albeit an exorbitant one). Do the cost of these drugs go down over time?

They plummet when the patent runs out and the generics pop up.

[bhlloy]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Hmm, well, that's a one time cost, though (albeit an exorbitant one). Do the cost of these drugs go down over time?

Once they become generics, the price pretty much bottoms out and I think we get them as cheap as we possibly can. Before that though, the drug companies can charge whatever they want, and the marketing tells the consumer that the named brands are better, so that is naturally what the consumer wants.

I believe we spend millions and millions "educating" doctors to use generics wherever possible, because in the long term it's best for the customer as well as the provider and the insurance company. And in most cases the generic performs exactly the same as the named brand (although read an interesting LA Times article that suggested this might not always be the case - no idea about how independently written that article was)

[CU Tiger]

millions in R&D CURRENTLY funded by the US Government.

And then there are the pharma sales girls making 250k/year to wear short skirts and flirt with doctors....

[Eaglesfan27]

I'm no fan of the drug companies and am a big propoent of the website nofreelunch (.org) which I used to direct all of the medical students I supervised to visit. However, the drug companies are investing hundreds of millions of their own money to develop drugs. Sure, they get government grants as well, but the companies are putting tons of money into R&D - I used to be an investigator in 3 different drug studies before I left academics and they were all funded strictly by the drug companies with no governmental contributions.

[stevew]

The drug companies and oil companies pwn us all.

[Mantle2600]

Originally Posted by stevew

The drug companies and oil companies pwn us all.

Word.

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by stevew

The drug companies and oil companies pwn us all.

Our insatiable demand for presciption and otc drugs and oil-based products is allowing us to be pwnd.