you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 216 points 5 months ago (12 children)

The pharma industry likes to defend its pricing by saying:

The second pill cost 25¢.

The first pill cost $800 million.

What they never actually say is that the US government (thereby the taxpayers) heavily subsidized most of that cost.

Big Pharma could use its own Mario Brother, just saying.

  • source
  • hideshow 12 child comments
  • [–] 41 points 5 months ago (5 children)

    Also most pharma research is done by public universities that private pharma companies then buy the rights to.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 5 child comments
  • [–] 5 points 5 months ago (2 children)

    The clinicals tend to be ran by the companies pushing for go to market. Those also cost millions

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 3 points 5 months ago

    Only because they see huge profits coming later.

    If they couldn't overcharge us for the drugs, they wouldn't buy up the fucking patents in the first place. And why should they be allowed to buy the patents for life-saving drugs that we, the people, paid to fucking develop on the first place?

    All health care and pharma CEOs need to be lined up against the fucking wall TBH. They're traitors.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 51 points 5 months ago*

    Even if we go by 0 subsidies as an argument, anything past around the 800 thousandth pill sold has already paid for itself and is now pure profit.

    The argument deserves to burn alongside whoever uses it to extort people for life saving care.

  • source
  • parent