solar jim

Former Merck CEO Prods Industry on Drug Pricing

I'm not arguing for or againt lower prices. I just want to point out something.

We live in a country whose economy is more market oriented than centrally run (govt) oriented. As a result, you have for profit companies in the pharma industry. The reason to incorporate is to make money. Period. That's the one responsibility a "company" has to abide by. As long as medicine continues to be a for profit business then the way it is will continue ad infinitum. Putting restrictions on profit motive will make future investment (R&D) more expensive relative to future profit. Ultimately, This means that their are some drug candidates that are not as risk free in developing and these will be the ones not pursued. Breakthroughs wont stop, but they will come at a much slower pace.

Personally, I think people are having an argument over the wrong question/issue. It's not about legislating the prices that companies can charge. It's about whether pharma should be allowed to be for profit companies. Non-profits could still invest for R&D as current Co's do and still charge less because they don't need to make all these billions of dollars of profits every year.