Quote:
Originally Posted by bonehead
I was showing the link between congress and a big business. Secondly, if there is no real competition the cost of new drugs will be artificially high. We must keep the supply and demand ratio on an even keel.
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Without monopolistic rents created through a government sponsored monopoly (i.e., patents), there won't be new drugs.
As an example:
Quote:
Greg Mankiw's Blog: Another reason to study economics
An ec 10 student explains how economics enhances your appreciation of television:
I just was watching some West Wing in my room and they were talking about protecting pharmaceutical patents. The one guy says "Those pills cost them four cents a unit to make..." and the other guy says "You know that's not true! The second pill costs them four cents, the first pill costs them four hundred million dollars!" Just thought it was cool that I understood why this was and I wouldn't have a few weeks ago.
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Without allowing big pharma to make big profits on their blockbuster discoveries, then you lose the seed money for future R&D as well as the capital from investors that fuel R&D as well. You can do this by creating a market that forces them to sell their first pill for $0.04 instead of selling their first millions for much more to recoup the cost of that first pill.