The Party of Life?

zappasguitar

zappasguitar

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Santorum to sick kid: Don’t complain about $1 million drug costs


Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum told the mother of a child with a rare genetic disorder on Tuesday that she shouldn’t have a problem paying $1 million a year for drugs because Apple’s iPad can cost around $900.

Speaking to more than 400 people at Woodland Park, Colorado, the former Pennsylvania senator said that demand should set prices for drugs.

“People have no problem paying $900 for an iPad,” the candidate explained. “But paying $900 for a drug they have a problem with — it keeps you alive. Why? Because you’ve been conditioned to think health care is something you can get without having to pay for it.”

The mother replied that she could not afford her son’s medication, Abilify, which can cost as much as $1 million a year without health insurance.

“Look, I want your son and everybody to have the opportunity to stay alive on much-needed drugs,” Santorum insisted. “But the bottom line is, we have to give companies the incentive to make those drugs. And if they don’t have the incentive to make those drugs, your son won’t be alive and lots of other people in this country won’t be alive.”

“He’s alive today because drug companies provide care,” the candidate continued. “And if they didn’t think they could make money providing that drug, that drug wouldn’t be here. I sympathize with these compassionate cases. … I want your son to stay alive on much-needed drugs. Fact is, we need companies to have incentives to make drugs. If they don’t have incentives, they won’t make those drugs. We either believe in markets or we don’t.”


http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/02/02/santorum-to-sick-kid-dont-complain-about-1-million-drug-costs/
 
SmarterThanYou said:
drug patent laws are a huge menace when it comes to keeping drug costs low.
Click to expand...

What other incentive is there supposed to be for creating drugs? The only real alternative would be for companies to be extremely secretive about the drugs the research they're doing - which, if successfully accomplished, would have the same negative effects as patents do, and also would harm overall progress in the field, as researchers could no longer learn from each other. If drug companies prove to be unable to keep their drugs secret, why on Earth would they do any research at all? Why would I spend a billion dollars researching a drug and scientifically proving it's efficacy in double blind placebo controlled trials just to have someone clone it a month later and have it out on the market? If I'm spending money on research and they aren't, there is obviously no way that I can match their prices and hope to stay profitable. Is this supposed to be a charity?
 
it's not the simple idea of owning a patent on a drug, even if it's for 20 years, but the law is set up now to allow a pharma to add or change an inert ingredient and then renew the patent, preventing the rest of the marketplace from being able to create competing generics.
 
it would be nice if the incentive was not just money. how about saving lives? bettering human existence?

further, i have no problem with the creators recouping their costs and making a profit. but most, if not all, drug companies make HUGE profits. billions. making egregious money off of human suffering or death is simply wrong. once you recoup your costs, make a nice profit, then lower the costs.
 
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