Free Market Drugs: A Key Part of Elizabeth Warren's Transition to Medicare for All

[Imperialism Inc.]

Free Market Drugs: A Key Part of Elizabeth Warren's Transition to Medicare for All
http://cepr.net/blogs/beat-the-press/free-market-drugs-a-key-part-of-elizabeth-warren-s-transition-to-medicare-for-all

...
While these measures captured most of the attention given to Warren’s transition plan, another part of the plan is probably at least as important. Warren proposed to use the government’s authority to compel the licensing of drug patents so that multiple companies can produce a patented drug, in effect allowing them to be sold at generic prices.

The government can do this both because it has general authority to compel licensing of patents (with reasonable compensation) and because it has explicit authority under the 1980 Bayh-Dole Act to require licensing of any drug developed in part with government-funded research. The overwhelming majority of drugs required some amount of government-supported research in their development, so there would be few drugs that would be exempted if Warren decided to use this mechanism.

These measures are noteworthy because they can be done on the president’s own authority. While the pharmaceutical industry will surely contest in court a president’s use of the government’s authority to weaken their patent rights, these actions would not require Congressional approval.

...

[redqueen]

1. !

[Demsrule86]

2. why would any company spend millions and millions developing drugs they don't get the patent for?

and consider the companies buying up insulin and old drugs and then charging prices that are 100 time more than they used to? We could eradicate Hep C...gone. But we don't because a fair number can't afford the medicine...how fucked up is that?

[George II]

3. That's exactly the point. Any laws that overly restrict the profits of drugs....

....will cause the developers to cut back on research.

People have to look at the whole picture. They see a drug that "costs" $10 to manufacture that has a selling price of $50 (just picking numbers here) They think the drug company is ripping off the people.

They fail to recognize that the drug may have taken several years to develop and cost millions of dollars in research. Many of these drugs take years for the company to break even. If that's even further restricted, the company will just forget about developing new drugs.

[redqueen]

5. I'm stunned to see these arguments being used on DU

Just stunned.

https://abcnews.go.com/WNT/YourMoney/story?id=129651

[The Mouth]

4. Drug research and medical research

should be pubicly funded.

My hearing aids cost $4K, there is no reason they should cost more than four bucks.

all drugs should be sold for their cost to make, all patents invalidated, with the amount of research reimbursed to the companies 0 the ACTUAL cost of research.

There should be only generics.

[MineralMan]

6. Unless the government develops and produces all prescription

drugs, it cannot simply force companies to make them. There is no way to force any company to make any product, and profit is always a consideration for private companies.

So, your idea dies before it can be implemented.

No company will produce anything if there is no profit involved. It is that simple. Add to that the fact that the federal government has no real experience in manufacturing pharmaceuticals and what you describe is a system for there being no drugs for people to take at all.

Instead, some sort of regulation of acceptable profit margins will work much better. But, as long as this country operates with private companies manufacturing things, your idea is unworkable and will only result in no drugs being available at all.

Even generic drug manufacturers make a profit from the products they make. You have to work within the reality of things.

[The Mouth]

7. I should have said 'no profit off the RESEARCH'

Sorry, could have expressed the concept better.

Government does the research, releases the formulation to the public, no patent.

Then let the free market work, since no drugs have a proprietary formulation, anyone can make them.

The reason the expensive drugs cost so much is patents.