My dad was a former pharmaceutical marketing exec, who after 30+ years, left the industry in disgust. He told me a of a practice he called ‘Drive-By Studies’. These are studies designed to cast a bad light on any ‘health solution’ that they viewed as competition to their highly profitable, under-patent, drugs. These could be popular diets, supplements and generic drugs - even ones they had developed years ago. So, this practice doesn't surprise me at all. This is one of the consequences of of that same mindset. And I'd also ask - what other country allows large corps to buy up their competition and then neglect or hamper their production, in order to lessen the impact on the larger corps bottom line? Isn't this what anti-trust laws were designed to address?
problem is patents. Eliminate patents and force all drug companies to publicize drug making methods, force all science to be free and public and eliminate laws and licences that stop new businesses from entering the health market. An electric wheelchair shouldn't cost more than 200 usd less that 150 to make for sure, it shouldn't be sold for 2000. There is no competiton in the market.
I am from South Korea, and its pretty known that South Korea is home to some of the largest conglomerates in the world that dominate entire industries. However, there are still systems of checks and balances when it comes to some things. Especially in medicine and healthcare. I remember before the pandemic blew up, when the first cases were reported in Wuhan, China, the Korean govt immediately worked with our dominant biopharmaceutical companies to make testing kits. And within three months, we had 200 million+ test kits ready for our population of around 55 million. Later on, the very same companies worked on synthesizing local vaccines for free use later on. If there is a sector that needs heavy govt intervention, that would be health and pharmaceuticals. I am not saying that Korea is the best country, no country is, but I can confidently say that checks and balances for companies involved in healthcare and medicine in Korea are regulated properly to work in the interest of the people. I hope the opposite situation in the US gets resolved by rational minds.
@@SeoWoojin55 no, friend they won't be resolved by rational minds...because U.S.has allowed such monster to hatch in its midst, that to root it out it would be impossible without some drastic measures. This nation is so divided, tIhat its basically falling apart from within....all because of greed, hypocrisy and absence of will of our government to stand against it and root it out. American people are very unhappy people, but they have been sedated by influence of corporate propaganda and they don't even know they are being held hostage of powers that control every aspect of their lives Healthcare in this country is clear example of what lm talking about...
"The health care system is failing our children." The US health care system is failing our people, all our people. Profit and health care should not mix. The whole system needs to change dramatically!
It's unlikely it will ever change thanks to the US Supreme Court and their moronic Citizens United decision. Basically it's legalized bribery where you can buy congressional votes and nobody "contributes" more than the medical and pharmaceutical conglomerates.
Obviously YT deleted the 1 reply indicated. It just confirms to me what has become obvious in Every part of life. These drug companies r in it for riches. Trump was on the verge of enforcing a bill requiring that the cost of Every item, drug, procedure in a med facility Must be given to a patient. Also, beginning to drop the price of ingredients, mfg, the drugs most in demand r made enough of to fill requirements, and many go betweens eliminated. Also giving mfgs, hospitals, etc. a Fair profit which would eliminate the entire cost down apx 3/4 of the current prices. (An antibiotic I had taken several xs cost me apx $2 a pill. Overnight, the dr had told me my insurance wouldnt cover the price which was $97 pr pill. I asked wtf. He said 'profit'. The U.S. is the highest healthcare in the world. The 2nd is 70% below us. And to see the sickening greed on Every level is just pure evil. To live in abject fear that we, a child or family member may require medical health care because nobody can afford it is sickening, and yes, something must be done. I cant help but notice that the quanity of every jab, booster, next varient, 2nd jab for next varient, booster for that one is in huge supply in multiple wharehouses everywhere. Plus their prediction of what, when, name of varient, etc. have all been named and r just waiting for that next breakout!
It's a terrible system and EVERYONE knows it, yet literally nothing will get done to fix it. There are many solutions to this problem and the only ones who matter are the shareholders of the insurance companies because the government gave them free reign with our healthcare system.
"publically"? All grammar-Naziing aside, this may very well open the door to new competitors/emerging technologies that will upend the whole industry. i.e., when the taxicab, cable tv, and eyewear monopolies got just a little too brash and arrogant with their customers, it led to their getting annihilated by ridesharing, streaming, and online-eyeglass manufacturing respectively. At least here in America, not only pharmaceutical manufactuers, but also the higher education and real estate sectors have been losing a *lot* of goodwill lately. And methinks that American resourcefulness and ingeniosity will soon remedy that.
@@grantorino2325 I don’t know what you were trying to point out by singling out “publically” but you are thinking of traditional free-market economy. Yes, companies that become too arrogant are usually rooted out through innovation, but pharmaceudical companies are different. They are different in a sense that their medications are already beyond innovative and are already saving many lives. By having less of these medications in the market at the moment, many people who are in need are dying. Unlike smartphones for example, countless lives would not be lost every day if Apple controlled lets say 90 percent of the market. The current phones would have probably been less immpressive, but still we wouldn’t have people dying. Sure you may argue that these companies are not charities, thus are not obligated to look after the well being of the society and etc. but if these medications are not profitable and are not necessarily beneficial for the company, then they should sell the rights so that someone else can still produce them.
@@far2kthoughts158 The drugs are *generic* , which means that they have no "rights" to "sell" in the first place. If *you yourself* wanted to manufacture a generic drug, then they couldn't stop you. The thing is: They want to manufacture drugs that they own (namely, on which they have patent protection) for 20 years, or so, before those *also* become generic-and the whole cycle begins anew. Can *you yourself* build a factory that will produce those generic drugs and effectively distribute them? If so, then more power to you! But if not, then rest assured: With enough demand, somebody somewhere will! P.S., it's spelled "publicly."
@@grantorino2325 Oh there are plenty of companies that can and do manufacture these generic drugs for cheap. In Canada, Mexico, and other countries. That's why so many Americans illegally order foreign-made drugs online, which exposes them to a variety of risks. Why are these companies not operating in the US, you ask? Because US policies are written by corporate lobbyists who have a vested interest in squashing competition and monopolizing markets, and our regulatory agencies are run by ex-executives of pharma companies. We currently live in a pro-trust, anti-competition political regime.
@@grantorino2325 You pro-market guys have a very simplistic understanding of how the economy works. For one, your example about how streaming services “disrupted” the cable monopoly is silly… almost all media production and distribution in this country like TV networks, film studios, broadband subscriptions, and even streaming platforms (except Netflix which is now dying) is controlled by five mega corporations… and among them is Comcast, whose profits have SOARED over the last decade. No, the consummate cable company is doing better than ever. As for real estate: land is a natural monopoly. It is the sale of physical space on Earth’s surface. There is no alternative. It won’t be “disrupted.” While there may be corrections in the market every few decades, real estate values will continue to increase on the average just like they have for centuries. Higher learning? Same thing. Top institutions will continue to favor applicants who graduated from old and respected Ivy League schools rather than from the latest online school. There is no alternative to a Harvard diploma. As for pharmaceuticals, the barrier to entry into that industry is far too tall for any start up to surmount. Because of the enormously expensive technology and talent required to sustain a pharmaceutical company, the entire industry is controlled by a cartel of several multinationals who would never give up market share to a newcomer.
The fact that US citizens pay on average 6 times more than Europeans for the same (made in the US) medications should tell you everything you need to know.the reason is simple,in countries where they have universal healthcare, pharmaceutical companies have to deal with the government and if the prices are considered too high,they lose to competitors.so where do these pharmas are making their profits?in the US!!
You are completely correct.and the fact that governments can negotiate with pharmaceuticals means that they can get them for the cost of the drugs, not the additional cost of R&D. So the United States is footing the entire cost of new drug research, basically subsidizing other countries, who also benefit. If we had government national healthcare, pharmaceutical companies would either have to raise prices so that all countries would pay for drug development or stop creating new drugs, which they could easily do and still make money on their existing drugs. Unfortunately, that would mean the end of most medical progress.
@@juliahello6673 or so you think. You should remember that every new med has a 20 year exclusive for its manufacturer, so we all pay the r& d. What you're paying is all the middleman industries and obscene CEO bonuses
@@MarcelaElviraTimis lol, less than 1/6th of the rnd as the drug still takes a portion of price. It's one thing if that's a "developing nation" imo but I assume that's out of economics more than ethics ie littl3 profit is better than no than no profit... the system (public + private sector) is not great....
@@mattmichael2441 dude, the r&d is usually done with taxpayer money. EVERYWHERE. Your problem isn't that big pharma is making SOME profit. Do you honestly think these corporations would sell to Canada, Mexico or the EU (to name a few) if they did NOT make some profit? LOL! Y'all are being PRICE GOUGED because YOUR politicians let THEM make the prices... for a fee, of course. I mean, 4-year campaignin' ain't free, ya know?
@@juliahello6673 This is a typical myth Americans tell. European countries respects patent protections of drug manufacturers, so they do indeed pay for their R&D as well. The American system is just bad in so many ways, so a lot of the cost goes into administration, rather than to actually pay for the drug itself. The true price of a drug does pay for R&D when looking at the patent timeframe, which is why brand name drugs are so expensive; especially in the beginning. For example, I live in Denmark and took the brand name drug of rizatriptan, called Maxalt, for migraines many years. They cost like $5/pill for years during the patent period. Might not seem like a lot, but migraines are one of the most common neurological disorders in the country, so the market is huge. After the patent expired the cost/pill is $0.40.
How is it possible that we pay the highest prices for healthcare in the United States and hospitals are running out of basic tools. We need serious reform to our system NOW!
Because somehow, our form of capitalism is all about profits instead of competition to make the best product for the market. So we can't have the government make the drugs, or the equipment, or offer a basic level of care because that's socialism instead of what it really is, fair market competition.
Because we keep voting against our own interests and keep electing the wrong people to US Congress - Representatives and Senators. These corporate Millionaires and Billionaires protect their own profit margins over the people they're supposed to serve.
And yet we still pay over twice as much, often more, than the rest of the developed world. This is what happens when the only thing that matters is money, not human life, not our environment, not even keeping our own planet inhabitable is more important than profits. We will go extinct before we cut the quarterly profits of corporations. We are insane
@@Dunve $600 insulin, a drug that’s been around since the 50s is generic. It takes Pennie’s to manufacture and costs maybe $10 in Canada. Why do American diabetics have to spend so much more?
@@piros44 I addressed this in another comment. Insulin isn’t 1 single product… did you know that? You’re talking about the most expensive and currently patented long release insulin. Instead if you chose a NPH and Rapid insulin schedule prices are very similar…
This whole system is broken because it is for-profit and not for-patients. The government doesn't want to stifle innovation but their lack of involvement in prive regulation and distribution just means GPOs can step in and complicate everything. So annoying.
I don't understand why the drug manufacturers don't create there own GPO division and sell directly to hospitals???? how can a 3rd party be more powerful than the provider?
What’s more annoying, we taxpayers provide the funding to pharmaceutical companies to research and make these drugs and then they keep all the profits.
“Administrative fee” as in the person who takes your money, but never answers the phone when you call or is never in the office when you go by the office.
Our healthcare system is failing on so many different levels. Prioritizing profit above people's care and welfare is an abomination. Improvements need be made and quickly.
The Australian government pays for my medication in hospital. All of it. Our government tells drug companies what they will get paid, within reason. Not the other way around.
@@Wowzersdude-k5c Greedy Pharma charges more in the US because they COULD & our pathetic Government does NOTHING. At least in these other countries the government looks out for the peoples well being, not the other way around!
As the sister of a man who had childhood leukemia and was in the clinical trial for vincristine and the mother of a child with SMA, for which treatments have only been approved within the last five years, this news story upsets me as much as anything that has happened over the past couple of years... And that has been a lot.
It's called, "THINING THE HEARD!",,, the best way for Government's to control population growth comes in many way's. ALL Companies are tied into Government Leadership to "thin the heard". 'isn't that nice ',,,,,,
America a country with the courage and political will to sanction and trade war two of the biggest superpowers in the world and modern history but dates not lift a finger against its own corporations.......if u truly wants to know who owns America just follow the money trail.
My son got cancer in 2012. He spent a lot of time in the hospital, needing a stem cell transplant and then having a lot of complications. There were several times they were short on the drugs they needed. IV Tylenol seemed especially in short supply. There are so many things wrong with our healthcare situation. It’s so sad.
@@hereholdthiswillya yes, all those. Sometimes I am too, too overwhelmed to feel more than sad when being put back into that place though. I still don’t have the energy for rage. It seems very personal still and remembering the pain, fear, and anguish we endured when meds weren’t available. Having to wait for something lifesaving to show up. How does a parent put on a brave face for their child when that happens? It’s so hard. I’m glad other people can have the rage that can more readily be turned to action while I still get stuck on “sad.”
@@michelleb7399 fair enough!! Oh I am so sorry for all you've been thru. It's a testament to your goodness that you only get sad. I'd probably go off in ways most unbecoming.
@@mattbanks3517 you drank their flavor-aid dude. Watch out it's poisonous. "Prove it," you say. Ok, all the countries with the best health statistics overall have socialized medicine.
In regards to TEVA no longer making vincristine, the company is, in fact, broke. They have over 20 billion in debt on the books, and they are in extreme cash conservation mode. Now, they will only produce drugs that make the most money, because they have limited manufacturing lines, and they don’t have the money to build additional lines. I know this, because I worked for them. It was a nightmare to work there. The reason Teva has so much debt is because of a horrible acquisition they made with actavis pharma. This could have been prevented, if the officials as the FTC would have blocked the acquisition, but they let it proceed with Teva meeting various preconditions. I will also say the government needs to negotiate with manufacturers directly and remove the GPO middlemen. This situation is just ridiculous.
Markets tend toward oligopoly when left to their own devices. The government's antitrust powers are necessary to make markets competitive. We knew that once but have forgotten over the past 40 years.
The saddest part of all is vincristine is a ingredient used strictly for children getting chemotherapy to take the sting out and this is what they're doing to our children this is horrible!
One of the big lies in America is that our healthcare system is better than Canadas because without our for profit system there would be waiting lines and shortage of care. The truth is that pharmaceutical companies and hospitals collude together to drive up prices, force scarcity on medicine and care and make America’s healthcare system the most expensive in the world and provide some of the worst care comparatively to other 1st world countries. The pharmaceutical executive that said, “you got to remember these companies aren’t charities…” thats right and thats why the federal government should step in to protect its citizens and make healthcare in this county free, affordable, price regulated and take it out of the hands of greedy corporations that have shown time and time again that killing people to make a buck is a standard business practice in their calculus for running their Fortune 500 company. US healthcare is disgusting aberration of what it should, and rightfully be. Instead sending billions overseas, spend that money here at home.
As long as maximization of profit is the ONLY basis for corporate valuation, we're going to have this. It's not just corporate greed, it's also demands by Wall Street analysts.
the problem isn't capitalism, it's third party payers. Substituting a public one for a private one isn't going to fix the problem. Look at Medicare-they already pay less than the care that the patients get. Can you imagine what would happen if the government stepped in and took *all* the incentive out of providing health care?
The givernment contemplates a change.... Here have some bri.... ehrm i mean "lobbying money". America is the most blatantly corrupt industrialized country in the world.
@@Wowzersdude-k5c It wouldn't see a huge tax increase though, many other similar countries do it and they are taxed normally at levels similar to U.S. taxes and don't have to worry about going bankrupt
“It’s Easier to Fool People Than It Is to Convince Them That They Have Been Fooled.” - Mark Twain We don't have a health care system. We have a For Profit Industry.
Because America doesn't have a healthcare system rather it have a healthcare industry, where healthcare providers are free to nickel and dime everyone till the last drop. Insulin for example, take next to nothing to produce yet drug manufacturers are charging hundreds of dollar for a single vial of such a essential lifesaving drug.
@@DarkZerol That's right. Until we don't let them. It's up to us to organize ourselves to stop it. Instead of trying to change laws (because Big Pharma will always BUY the laws) ... what if we all showed up at the drug companies with signs that read 'SHAME!!!!!!!!" ??? And supported the journalists who expose these sorts of things. Without them (and there are many. Not only the 60 Mins group), we wouldn't even know about this (unless affected personally). I dunno. We do have more power than we imagine. It's how we organize ourselves to deal with those things that don't work.
Something creepy about the economics here. The demand for life-saving drugs (being inelastic) should be driving reasonable profits. Somebody seems to have a price gouging addiction to patent[ed] medicines.
No. A new drug costs >$2bn USD from R&D to roll-out. Most of that cost is in the extensive procedures for clinical trials and FDA approval. The costs for manufacturing drugs of any sort are insane too. Once a drug has been developed, patented and approved, manufacturing the new drug using their existing expensive fixed assets like the plant, equipment, salaried professionals, etc. It doesn't make sense to produce a lot of cheap drugs because the costs are primarily NOT in raw materials, i.e. the chemical constituents needed for a drug's production. Even those costs are sky high now. These economic decisions aren't malicious. If you want public health to be placed over profits, some degree of government agency over the issue is required. One answer is a government subsidy program. We are already risking a lot by importing Indian pharmaceuticals. Higher profit margins but the pharmacokinetic profile of these drugs are sometimes way off and in no way meet the standards for the FDA's generic label. The generic drug must be sufficiently the same in all meaningful respects. Currently, that's not always the case. The pandemic played a large part in this.
Insulin isn’t one product. There’s multiple types of insulin. When you say $200 in the USA, that’s just the average price including the most expensive novel insulin products. If you look at generic NPH and rapid insulin, prices are very similar. Nice try though.
Here is the solution: The USA has about 100 pharmacy schools and even many more chemistry and chemical engineering departments. Get them to survey the production need and parcel out the work across the entire country. They can sell direct to the hospitals and use the profits to drive down tuition.
How you going to do that when so many of the pharmaceutical companies peddling 'goods' that aren't off patent are MONOPOLIES for the 'good' in question. It's an evil industry and we're seeing what they're capable of right now, so many refuse to see it.
I'm British and my sister is married to a American and has moved to the states , and I'm sending over the counter medicines for headaches and indigestion because she says the stuff you get over the counter in the states doesn't work as well, she thinks that's so more people go the doctor so they can make more money . Really I think she's mad living in the states just on the healthcare issue
The NICU doctor sounded like he was working out of a MASH unit in a war-torn country, but no, he works in one of the top medical centers in America. Something is seriously wrong when American hospitals can't get basic, life-saving drugs due to corporate greed, yet Americans are charged the most for healthcare.
When I see things like this I thank GOD I didn’t take the bait to migrate to America (America has really great PR I must say). I’m a doctor myself and I am more than happy that I live in a European country with universal/socialised health care. The Government negotiates prices with drug companies and we get it either for free or at a fixed price depending on individual financial circumstances. Every single medication is one price (about $12), If you must pay. Miss me with the “yOu PaY hIgHeR tAxEs” Cos by calculation we really don’t. I’ll say it again if the financial burden of healthcare is on the government, they have an incentive to keep you healthy. It’s cheaper for them to prevent a disease than to pay for a cure, so they’ll do everything possible to prevent it. Starting from diet, screening etc. Somethings are allowed in American food, but it’s banned in Europe (go figure) I can’t imagine not being able to treat a patient cos of funds or something as silly as this. Even the 3rd world country where I’m originally from isn’t this bad. United States of America aka “The Trenches”
It’s true bro. We people in this country are treated as if they are genuinely expendable, and sadly half of us believe that being treated that way is a good thing. Let us serve as a warning for what happens when capital runs unchecked, so that other nations may be spared our missteps.
@@Wowzersdude-k5c nah dude even in america doctors can barely pay off student loans so even if they get paid more they don't see that money at the end of the day. It's mainly insurance companies artificially driving up prices because hospitals know insurance companies will pay whatever price the hospital names.
It’s not just them. They’re horrible too, but it’s also the middle companies & most importantly, the system as a whole. Notice how they’re only stopping production in the US. Other countries don’t have for-profit healthcare systems. That also has a lot to do with all this, because the middle men take into consideration the bottom line of the hospitals & in this country hospitals are businesses.
It's called, "THINING THE HEARD!",,, the best way for Government's to control population growth comes in many way's. ALL Companies are tied into Government Leadership to "thin the heard". 'isn't that nice ',,,,,,
This is why it is continually stated that things like health care shouldn't be for profit!. We knew that the mail had to be non profit because it wouldn't make financial sense to deliver to rural areas, but we can't put 2 and 2 together on health care. I am so tired of our country being run by companies that just care about how much money the can squeeze out of it until it folds and they move on the somewhere else.
Everyone and everything is not motivated by money. The person who discovered the polio vaccine gave it away to help children who suffered the most from the disease. I would argue that if your main reason for finding a cure for disease is financial, and you are just going to sell it to the highest bidder once found. Then your impact on society would be minimal since only those who could afford your cure would benefit and that may not be very many people. Furthermore the government does research all the time in a not for profit environment. That is how we got the internet etc.
@@rdean150 so many things are owned by these places and as people can see with the housing market right now. They only care about their roi at the expense of all else
@@lysabelle3990 excellent point. Doctors, scientists, and pharmaceutical companies respond to financial incentives just like everyone else. I believe that most people have altruism as one of their motivating factors. Also “non-profit”, does not necessarily mean lower cost. People who work for non-profit medical organizations still get paid. I believe that most people want to do the right thing, but they still deserve to be compensated for their work.
I propose a new patent law: If patent holders can't produce their drugs or medical technology in the amounts needed, compounding pharmacies and independent 3d printing manufacturers should be able to produce the amount needed for their local population with protection from lawsuits protecting the patent.
If we nationalized drug production we wouldn’t have this problem. It’s an abomination that lifesaving drugs aren’t getting produced because of “profit.” What has private ownership of drug companies done for us? Nothing
The people who develop the drug should get an award, and then the drug is public domain and can be produced by like any generic drug and a public owned pharmacutical company should be developed
@@barneygimble8497 Sounds good, but eventually when a mistake is made and people are injured or killed by a faulty batch of drugs, who's going to hold the government accountable? My biggest issue with the idea of government going into business is that there is no way to regulate them. Not to mention, of course, that government is inherently inefficient and wasteful. You can't keep foisting power into the hands of the few and expect that they aren't going to exploit that power for themselves.
This could all be fixed through laws that cut the middle man and the fees for drugs that are not expensive, yet are necessary. Then they can remain inexpensive, and be made readily available.
Or maybe... the real issue is the system that created these problems in the first place? Noooo can't be! We just need reform guys! I'm sure congress would never take money from big pharma and vote against the will of the people. Congress will pass a law soon I promise!
Every single Republican Senator voted against a bill to stop pharmaceutical price gouging. The current situation exists because our lawmakers chose it, plain and simple.
@@rdean150 I wouldn't blame our lawmakers so much as the societal belief that medical care and patient outcomes are better under a capitalist system rather than socialized medicine. We leave these drugs and their manufacturing up to business executive who only look at profits vs resource input. If they can cut a small margin drug and reallocate the manufacturing resources to a higher profit margin drug and increase revenues, then capitalism and shareholders are gonna dictate they do so.
The only reason the US is so antithesis towards a single payer healthcare system is that all this rent-seeking middle men would collapse... Billions of dollars are made from fees and commissions.. Patients are the one that pays for it.
Well, Obama got the ball toward positive change rolling but had limited success. Everyone started screaming about socialized medicine and how it was going to raise their taxes and destroy the country. Meanwhile, this problem, among a myriad of others, continued to get worse. If you are seriously concerned about healthcare in the United States, then you need to seriously think about how you vote.
GPO's and Distributors don't have to exist, they should stop accusing the FDA for this situation. If the manufacturers get the bulk of the profit from sales, and not GPOs and Distributors, they could keep their plants quality control compliant and still profitable.
Imagine. In Syria, meds aren’t available because they can’t afford it. In America, meds aren’t made because it only profits the companies $10 million instead of $100 million.
An increase in trained Compounding Pharmacists could go a long way in helping patients in need. Walgreens and CVS are to blame for that. No one right out of pharmacy school wants to work for a small pharmacy when the big boys offer 6 figures for an entry level pharmacist job.
@@Matt-fl8uy what I’m saying is if the drug companies are simply refusing to make the drugs I don’t see another option. No one has incentive to sell some of these drugs, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t needed. The insurance companies also have the government by the balls even more so than the pharms in some ways, so the fda can’t step in and force teva or whoever to make these drugs.
Nope, nope, nope. The FDA is on the hook here. When a pharmacist is making their own meds day in and day out, the FDA can’t control every little thing. Yes, the FDA is important and yes they mean well. But pharmacists aren’t being allowed to do what they were trained to do without a massive hassle. So as a result we see many compounding pharmacies shutting down and no new ones opening.
Or stop paying private companies to do their job. I saw this segment on dialisys clinics, for one, and I was kinda in shock. Like, seriously? And your govt IS footing the bill for that, instead of making public hospitals and clinics
@@mikemondano3624 you do realize the government already funds 20-40% of research right? They used to fund 70% in the 70s and people were getting along fine back then. There are ways to create competitive incentives without the free market also
The government is horrendous at managing the IRS, and you want to hand them the healthcare system!? There has to be a better idea. Something better than what Europe does.
@@katylee1914 didn't the billionnaires' on duty influence peddlers make your government cut their funding to the point they can't afford to audit the lawyered-up big shots?
If the company goes bankrupt then where is the drug? Profits are needed. We wouldn't have this problem if more companies were allowed to even exist. But the FDA makes it very difficult for competition
I remember a guy who preached "deregulation" (another way he said it was "...government is the problem"). He also Cut the Capital Gains Tax (and that is why profit *growth* has become "more important" than people).
The current system needs to be completely removed and a new one created. Medications are not luxuries or optional. Medication should NEVER have been for-profit.
This is the epitome of healthcare and even though I get mine through my benefits I still won't even go to a doctor out of fear where they're going to send me next or what they're going to tell me to take for 30 years and then tell me to go lump it after I'm medically addicted to it due to 30 years of taking it
what is medically addicted? there's no addiction with medications that do not produce euphoria in the brain. "addiction" doesn't even make sense in reference to blood pressure medicine for example, or Motrin, literally only euphoria producing medication can be addictive. And even with medications that can be addictive, It's criminal that doctors are forced by emotionally driven legislation to take people off needed pain medicine because someone's kid overdosed on a street drug. That's a tragedy for sure but it's not right to take people off medicine they need for real conditions.
Oh yes. More compassion and trust. Its impossible to trust a dr at all anymore. I was taking a sm amt of a low schedule drug. 1/2 pill a day for 35 yrs. My Dr retired and the next just cut me off. No notice, nothing. His excuse was he didnt believe in that type of drug. RAGE! I told him his beliefs were of no concern to me, My needs and trtmt (a disease that would progress for the rest of my life) so I could continue to have a life was my only concern. It not only cost my job, my home, all aspects of living, but having aquired apx 130 more patients, proceeded to cut them all off of pain, heart, bp, etc. Sev committed suicide, others died frm their med problems. Not to sound crazy, but someone a few months later wired an explosive to his vehicle. My point is they dont care anymore. Its sad and its scary
@@dead2802 that's horrific that doctors could be that moralistic and stupid. And the laws don't help either. I absolutely can't believe he took people off hypertension meds and heart medicine, omg. I hope he was investigated.
@@michah321 I filed a level 1 and 2 complaint with my insurance company it went dead in the water tight end up like that gentleman doctor above he never know that's what happens especially when it's mental health medication, on top of having an health illness of twenty-seven years which they knew I didn't get in till after I started the medication so they could have stopped the medication and any damn time but note that I have me take it for 29 straight years and then told me to go lump myself at the height of covid September 2020 and the insurance company said that he was well within his rights to do what he did oh and not to mention it was over Valium which I normally didn't take it was given to me for two flights over 2 years but he kept accidentally prescribing it and the lady who worked at the pharmacy called up there griping to him when I told her that I would get this taken care of because it was still in his notes so between the two of them yeah it cost me my doctor and my meds for the rest of my life but don't worry cuz I'll see her eventually to like I said they were only my mental health medications! In the end he told the insurance company I was late to my appointment by 4 minutes
"profits are too low" DAMN RIGHT!!! As they should be. Medicine isn't a business, it's a necessary public service. Quit whining, and stop hiding behind your patents. Just help sick people. They just want more government handouts to the rich.
It's a finite commodity. It is a business and should be. "Just help sick people". What's stopping you? You don't get to demand something you have no right to. Sounds like whining to me.
@@agisler87 I know right... It should be a business, even though it currently is and that's not working. And no, it's not a finite commodity, it's a necessity. It's simple molecules like water we're talking about.
@@HardlyLegal It's a business that is highly regulated with 70% off all healthcare being paid for by the government. US healthcare is broken because of broken government policies. It's a closer to a socialist system than a free market. Water is a necessity but that won't make it less scarce in the desert. You can't magically wish into existence more doctors, medicines, and medical equipment.
@@agisler87 I got ya.. US healthcare is broken because of government, everywhere else is saved by government policies. btw the policies in the US are there for safety, aka you can't do something that will harm a patient. And that money that is going to publicly funded projects, is going straight to private industries "research and development" where businesses can spent it to their liking. Your tax dollars are going straight to a private company to create something to then sell back to you.
US spends around 4 trillions $ a year and yet can’t provide not only essential medicines to its patients but more than 30 million citizens don’t have access to health care. Brutal!
The system need government intervention, just like Healthcare in general. It is a human right, but you can't expect these for-profit businesses to act against their own interests, to a degree. Yes there are issues with pricing (gouging the consumer, entitlement program, and insurance companies), but set aside all other issues and consider this: A new drug costs >$2bn USD from R&D to roll-out. Most of that cost is in the extensive procedures for clinical trials and FDA approval. The costs for manufacturing drugs of any sort are insane too. Once a drug has been developed, patented and approved, manufacturing the new drug using their existing expensive fixed assets like the plant, equipment, salaried professionals, etc. It doesn't make sense to produce a lot of cheap drugs because the costs are primarily NOT in raw materials, i.e. the chemical constituents needed for a drug's production. Even those costs are sky high now. These economic decisions aren't malicious. If you want public health to be placed over profits, some degree of government agency over the issue is required. One answer is a government subsidy program. We are already risking a lot by importing Indian pharmaceuticals. Higher profit margins but the pharmacokinetic profile of these drugs are sometimes way off and in no way meet the standards for the FDA's generic label. The generic drug must be sufficiently the same in all meaningful respects. Currently, we are getting drugs
R&D as well as clinical trials are completely funded by US taxpayers. Unfortunately, when pharmaceutical companies patent the results of the “invention”, they receive All profits from it, never paying back the $ that was given to them 🤔 If they were required to share the profits from the patented product or better yet place in the public domain and allow others to manufacture the product, prices would control themselves through competition! In addition, remove lobbyists from the political sphere altogether. Just my 2 cents!
Here in india 🇮🇳, in last 2-3 years lots of generic drug stores opened. Thanks to the government. But doctors still dont recommend this medicine beccoz they are in big pharma companies pocket.
This is the best example of why leaving everything purely to the "Market" is bound to fail. Gov't needs to step in with some regulations inevitably... although ideal is not too many regs. Tough balance act.
This is so sad! Insurance companies should be forced to pay enough for generic drugs to be made right here in America. They should all be readily available and every hospital should be well stocked on all essential drugs. If we can't force insurance companies to pay, then our tax dollars need to be spent on this. Stop sending billions to foreign aid until we fix our own problems!
I’m tired of for profit medical care. This needs to end. I’m done. It’s time to make healthcare delivery and payment public. Does this whole segment sound like this is happening in the richest country in the world? No.
There needs to be tighter regulation of drug companies. I suffer from epilepsy. for forty years I've taken Phenobarbital. Just ten years ago, I could get it in Target Pharmacy for $7.00 per prescription. Now the cost has quintupled. Rifraxamin, an antibiotic that is often used to treat GI issues can cost almost two thousand dollars. I wound up having to use a Canadian pharmacy that imported the antibiotic from India. It took six weeks to arrive but it only cost me 100.00.
I want the government to step in and do it themselves, healthcare shouldn't be about making as much money as possible, these capitalist values that America seems to have is killing our people.
Medicare for all would fix this position, major countries throughout the world provide healthcare for free to their citizens; only in the USA healthcare is for profit. Congress & the Senate need to work for the people not for Big Pharma. Sad country this is, greed has no boundary.
@@lijohnyoutube101 read the comment again. All these companies get tons of money from the government. This isn't the "free market". And yeah, the government should make these drugs then.
It's called, "THINING THE HEARD!",,, the best way for Government's to control population growth comes in many way's. ALL Companies are tied into Government Leadership to "thin the heard". 'isn't that nice ',,,,,,
In Denmark, we have a government website that shows how much all the drugs approved in the country cost, and their historical price developments. The medications cost the same in every pharmacy in the country, because the pharmacies buy the drugs from the national supplier, and are allowed to take a 20% profit for them. The healthcare ministry sends out orders for specific drugs to be sold on the Danish market and companies then bid for the right to sell it. This is fair to the manufacturers and the buyers/patients, because it allows for the prices to increase if there are no profits to be made with past prices and keeps companies from scalping the market since there is potential for competition.
We need the government to step in and regulate drug manufacturers! Not only production of drugs but how much they can charge. Eliminate for profit middle men.
And nobody talks about overregulation and blames pharmaceutical companies to whom the government gave the right to be basically be monopolies since you need extremely long testing procedures to produce drugs like that which make any newcomer companies unable to produce them
The hospitals waste meds too. My partner is an RN and they “waste” leftover tablets and iv drugs with a coworker all the time (2 employees at once for confirmation it was truly wasted). It seems ridiculous that they can’t put something as simple as tablet of percocet that a patient didn’t consume back into the supply versus dropping it in a waste container that sludges and destroys it. Throwing away money and completely usable drugs that can be used for others. Yet they have no problem charging a healthy fee with decent profit for each tablet/drug they give you in a hospital setting. Not really the same situation as what’s in this video but it’s wasteful. I think our government should enforce a requirement they make less profit generics along side with their pocket raping drugs too. I mean can’t the company also have some compassion or is it truly all greed at the cost of lives? Sad.
As a nurse I can tell you that once you pop a tablet out of its packaging it is legally considered used even if the patient does not take it. For non narcotic meds this is mostly an infection control measure but with narcs you must account for each and every tablet and once dispensed they cannot be legally added back into the count. Failing to properly account for a narcotic can cost you your license. Sometimes people try to add them back after punching them out of the cards by pushing the pill back in and taping over the slot but if I find this during shift change I will insist that the tablet be removed and wasted before accepting the med cart because if a state healthcare surveyor found a re-taped/re-added tablet in my narc count I would be fired faster than you can say AHCA and likely have to stand before the state board of nursing and explain my actions and pray they didn't revoke my license.
Because that could end up hurting someone could u imagine. The nurses don't have time to put them back into the bottles they get them out of not only that but u could easily make a mistake and mix them up
Why can't we allow subsidies for these low-cost drugs, similar to what we due with agriculture and oil? Have the government pay for these pharmaceutical companies to manufacture these drugs.
You seriously would rather have your taxes go to line some CEOs pocket instead of actually changing the system? C-mon man for-profit healthcare is clearly dysfunctional. Its time is up.
The US government spends billions in subsidizing drug trials. Even the biggest companies can't afford to do trials, they would go bankrupt before they got a new product out. The problem is we as citizens pay for the trials through taxes. We literally pay pharma companies so they can actually produce drugs, which is fine. The problem being, why are they allowed to make disgusting profits off of medication that we as a nation paid for? Drug companies shouldn't be for profit and neither should hospitals. Release all the non-violent drug offenders from prison and replace them with hospital execs/pharma execs. Y'know, the people sitting around making things more expensive while screwing over their employees and the population.
This is a multi-factorial issue. Not only big pharma to blame. Plenty of blame on Medicare, the hospitals, and especially the GPOs. Patients and doctors caught in the middle. Generic drug manufacturing will need to become a government regulated utility. BTW the GPOs are the worst... mostly owned by insurance companies
Gosh. For a minute there I thought you were going to tell the truth: "Yet, year after year, the government stays on the sidelines …" No. The government stays on the side of the pharmaceutical companies.
We need to quit relying on outsourcing everything and become self sufficient. There also needs to stop being a monopoly on pharmaceuticals, baby food, everything…. Doing so, would solve so many problems in the USA. The greed is disgusting!!
Our hospital no longer stocks dextrose (glucose) on the units bc of the shortage, but a patient with low glucose can die in minutes I almost saw it happen one day. We had to open a whole crash cart for one vial, which new residents/nurses were scared to do bc of the cost. It is unsafe to not have it on the floor. The list of critical drugs not on the floor anymore is growing…
@@mikemondano3624 glucose tablets you can buy in the store are different than the glucose iv fluids and glucose injections that are needed in a hospital setting. For example an unconscious diabetic cannot chew and swallow a glucose tablet.
@@mikemondano3624 IV dextrose has to be sterile sir, go educate yourself. You cannot buy that without a prescription, and its not for me, it was for my patients, I do not have diabetes. It is sad that ppl are so uneducated these days.
Generic Delzicol is not available now in the pandemic. Only the brand name is available and that's too expensive. I have to apply for RX assistance from the company that makes the brand name Delzicol. Glad there's that option.
Thanks 60 minutes for bringing issues. We currently source our generics from international organizations. Forget the politics, they offer great quality with great prices.
We need to switch to non-profit system for health insurance and should do the same for older, lower profit meds which the for-profit system won’t make. We have the same problem w/antibiotics and superbugs. The pharm companies don’t want to waste their time on making new antibiotics which the superbugs aren’t immune to bc we only take antibiotics for a short period of time. They’d rather make drugs which a person stays on long-term, which also means we aren’t looking for cures or prevention but instead looking for ways for patients to live w/the condition and all the side effects of the drugs for the rest of their lives. I’ve been on a medication for 27yrs and it’s still brand name only bc the pharmaceutical company which makes it pays generic manufacturers not to produce a generic drug making me and my drug insurance pay more than we would otherwise be paying every month I get a refill. The entire system is corrupted and doesn’t fulfill its purpose bc it’s for-profit. The healthcare system has more lobbyists on capital hill than any other industry. They’ve bought the entire GOP and corporate/establishment Dems. We need to elect more far-left Dems, which r the only politicians who aren’t in office to enrich themselves. They r the only politicians who can’t be bought by all these corrupt corporations which is why most of the media, the wealthy, corporations, the GOP, and to some extent, establishment Dems r always against the far-left Dems, especially if they r feeling the voters r supporting the far-left Dems more than the GOP and establishment Dems as we saw when Bernie won the first 3 states during the Dem primary elections of 2020. It was the landslide election of 1932 when we elected FDR, a far-left Dem, and Dem congress who saved American democracy and democracy worldwide. He was so loved by most ppl, except elites, he was elected 4x for president, 2 assassination attempts, and after his death the wealthy pushed congress to limit presidents to 2 terms and prevent the far-left Dems from ever getting in the more powerful seats speaker, majority/minority leaders, or president again. We won’t break this government which works more for the wealthy and corporations until we change the faction of politicians we’ve been voting for, at least since 1980. We began losing our more democratic/social democratic, for the ppl government in 1971 when a republican Supreme Court justice sent a memo to the US Chamber of Commerce titled, “The Lewis Powell Memo: a Corporate Blueprint to Dominate Democracy.” The ppl will continue to struggle and lose out until we take back our government!
This has been a slow progression since we’ve started the business practice where the increase of quarterly profits is only priority as a business model and now we’re at the point where capitalism is eating itself. You see it everywhere in everything. And that’s on top of the subsidies we give them.
Hospitals be like "$1000 for a bag of saltwater but let's the leftover drugs out of a vial like a Mexican restaurant reusing the free tortilla chip baskets."
Because they are lying. I just did a quick perusal through the 2021 10-K annual reports filed with the SEC for the largest & 2nd largest generic pharmaceutical manufacturers in the US. So, Teva Pharmaceutical was the largest generic pharmaceutical manufacturer in the US up until 2020 I think when it was overtaken by Pfizer. In Teva's 2021 10-K annual report with the SEC in 2021 their "gross profit" for the North America Segment was $4.226 billion which was a 54.1% profit margin on their North American revenues. They define North America as the US & Canada. That is a fall from 2020 where they made $4.489 billion in gross profits at a 53.1% profit margin. Their note on the decline in revenue says it was due to "mainly due to increased competition on key products and lower volumes as well as lower revenues from generic launches in 2021."
As far as the shut down of manufacturing plants here is what they say in the 10-K filing, "Between 2017 and 2019, we closed or divested a significant number of manufacturing plants in the United States, Europe, Israel and Japan in connection with a restructuring plan. We are continuing our ongoing efforts to consolidate our manufacturing and supply network."
Then there is Viatris Inc., which was formed in November 2020 when Pfizer's Upjohn division & Mylan; this is when Teva was overtaken as the largest generic manufacturer. In regards to them closing certain parts of there business their 2021 10-K filing says this "In addition to integration activities with respect to Mylan and the Upjohn Business, Viatris is also implementing a significant global restructuring program in order to achieve specified synergies and ensure the new company is optimally structured and efficiently resourced to deliver sustainable value to patients, shareholders, customers, and other stakeholders."
Now they don't break out the gross profits by region or segment, but they do report "net sales" & the net sales for North America was $4.59 billion. It says their overall gross margins was 31% for 2021 & adjusted gross margins were "approximately 59%."
This is a very easy fix for all drugs. Since private companies refuse to step in to restock due to low profit margins the government should step in and make the drugs. I worked in the medical drug field. They have a drug book outlining what is in each drug basically like a cookbook so this is an easy problem to fix but the government refuses to work for the people
It’s too bad the Supreme Court and all the lawmakers don’t know about this! Someone should tell them! They care SO MUCH about the lives of children! 🙄 ‘murica 👍🏼
Well, 1 Company means that all the profit from that one drug goes to that 1 company. If your the only company that produces a certain, highly needed drug, You can also choose not to sell that specific drug through a drug wholesaler/ purchase group, couldn’t you? After all, It’s not like they can just go to a different company, Your the only one who makes it! Surely the hospital would be willing to buy directly from you at that point, allowing you to charge the extra 20 bucks or so to keep things going. As for Quality control problems, I have a solution for that too: We’re sticking with the 1 company manufacturing the drug for this. 1. Multiple production sites. Best to keep them in separate states (Neighboring states maybe?) for minimal risk. 3 Sites is a good minimum. For more than 3 sites, we’ll say a couple facilities in state A, A few in State B and Some in State C, That way it doesn’t become a pain for management since they won’t be spread across the entire US. A quality control issue can be isolated to 1 Production location, Allowing the suspension of only the affected site. The remaining production locations still be operational and this will prevent a Drug storage. 2. No shared Workers. Sometimes employees unintentionally contaminate things. It happens. Say someone is sick (but not showing symptoms) and that person works at Site #1 In State A. State A also has Site #4, which is short-Staffed at the moment so this person is asked to work a day or two at Site #4. Well if this persons illness is able to contaminate the drug somehow, You’ve just possibly contaminated 2 different sites. 3. If there’s a risk of ingredients being contaminated from the source or in transit (Contamination Before actually reaching the Drug production facility), then each site could have a different ingredient supplier or in the case of more than 3, like with the states, they will share between A few different suppliers if possible to keep things manageable. I’m sure there’s i perfections with this, and as always, it’s a different story once you involve money but i think this could be a good start. It’s at least better than the current system probably. The contaminant things are mostly speculative on my part, I don’t know what goes into making these (aside from chemistry 🧪) and I don’t know what contaminates them or how it happens but i tried to include a range of protective measures as a shot in the dark.
Hospital labs are not that kind of lab. Most don't even have basic classic chemistry setups (like a college lab). Instead, the labs are full of specialized machines that run samples. Some of those machines will only accept reagents for testing in machine-specific configurations, like how you can only use one type of printer cartridge for one kind of printer.
My heart breaks in pieces just to know this little kid are suffering they're so innocent they shouldn't go through this I can't watch this video anymore.
So many of humanity's problems are self-inflicted & preventable. Greed & ego are the root of all evil. Unfortunately those are the key ingredients that drive capitalism.
Government: "Here's the taxpayer money you need, to research/create an affordable drug to help people." Company: "Okay. We made it. We're selling it for 50 dollars a pill, they gotta take one every day forever." Government: "Can you make the pill cheaper?" Company: "We need to recoup the research costs. But insurance will pay 45 out of the 50 bucks." Government: "And for the uninsured?" Company: "Well, they don't have money anyway, so why should we care?" Government: "Sounds good to me." About how I picture that conversation on capitol hill.
Why am I not surprised it's the USA after all... but at the same time it's insane how much of a stranglehold these pharmaceutical companies have over the US government. For example, in the USA a carton of insulin costs around 100 dollars while the exact carton cost around 8-10 dollars here in Europe.
The problem actually is they prefer only American or Western sources however there are other sources that are happy to supply these products but they are unwilling to take from like India and China. This is a preference created shortage and not really an actual shortage.
There have been shortages of my cardiac medications and my generic narcotic I use to keep my chronic severe pain under control. My Atenolol and Digoxin have been in shortage. Those two drugs keep me alive. I need those two medications every day. It’s scary every month not knowing if I will get my medications that I do desperately need.
“Because it doesn’t make enough profit.” My sister was born in mexico and my parents expected that paying and doing the old school bribing would mean my premature sister would live. They were right, but the doctors claimed they didn’t pay ‘enough’ (aka my parents used all of their money. To the last coin to keep her alive.) and when the money ran out they literally gave this tiny baby that could nearly fit on my moms hand. Head on fingers, whole fragile little body in the palm of her hand and her limbs would just dangle. That baby wanted to live. My sister lived through the next months and years being denied proper medical treatment. So my parents reached out to the US for help. They helped. I later served to repay the service. I cannot believe now the US is doing this to their own. Its disgusting. After years I came to realize if the doctors treated this baby like any other she wouldve had a future. A new born baby that couldve grown well and good but the doctors decided to prioritize monetary gain over a human life. If she survived without proper care in that time imagine how she would’ve thrived adequate medical treatment. The US is going down an equally horrifying path now.
I bet if we gave terminal diseases to the pharmaceutical executives and their families, they'd figure it out real quick. The entire for- profit, privatized health care system is broken. It's disgusting how bad things have gotten and how little all the politicians that campaign on fixing the system actually do about it.
The United States of America! The most dynamic nation! And, we have all these individuals responsible for problems in supply and demand of pharma. It really is a disgusting turn of events. Does capitalism really work for all? I don’t think so.
A private business has no accountability. They will run a business for one reason and one reason only. Only people care about people. Nothing will change until people do something and good luck getting everyone to agree on anything Americans don’t like each other. You would think it would be easy to get done but already half you out there disagree with me about 25% of you will give reasons why it can’t be done and rest don’t care yet because they are healthy and it don’t apply to them ….yet . when you get older you will complain about it then but it will be to late for you to do anything about there is a large population of Americans who can fix this with there voice if we want. Americans great at fixing thing when we can come together as The United State Of America
Tl;DW: It's a bit more complex than this, but the FDA has made quality such a priority that many low-margin drug companies can't compete, so they shut down, leading to shortages. Middlemen also make it hard for drug manufacturers to stay in business, which in turn leads to shortages. Remember, these are generic companies, not the ones charging an arm and a leg.
My nephew takes an orphan drug that reduces the amount of copper in his blood stream. Without this drug, he would die as he carries a genetic defect where he received a defective gene from both parents, making him have Wilson's disease. There are only two companies that make these drugs. The drug is very, very expensive. If these drugs are stopped being produced, my nephew who is a college graduate, played Big Ten Basketball for Belmont University would die very quickly. We always worry that the orphan drugs will be discontinued by the companies. His life is dependent on it. The government needs to give tax breaks for companies that create these rare drugs and give them incentives to continue to produce them.
My dad was a former pharmaceutical marketing exec, who after 30+ years, left the industry in disgust. He told me a of a practice he called ‘Drive-By Studies’. These are studies designed to cast a bad light on any ‘health solution’ that they viewed as competition to their highly profitable, under-patent, drugs. These could be popular diets, supplements and generic drugs - even ones they had developed years ago. So, this practice doesn't surprise me at all. This is one of the consequences of of that same mindset.
And I'd also ask - what other country allows large corps to buy up their competition and then neglect or hamper their production, in order to lessen the impact on the larger corps bottom line? Isn't this what anti-trust laws were designed to address?
problem is patents. Eliminate patents and force all drug companies to publicize drug making methods, force all science to be free and public and eliminate laws and licences that stop new businesses from entering the health market. An electric wheelchair shouldn't cost more than 200 usd less that 150 to make for sure, it shouldn't be sold for 2000. There is no competiton in the market.
@@mattbanks3517 the drugs featured in the video aren’t under patent…
Oh honey, anti-trust is a relic from a bygone time, and we are all the worst for it.
I am from South Korea, and its pretty known that South Korea is home to some of the largest conglomerates in the world that dominate entire industries. However, there are still systems of checks and balances when it comes to some things. Especially in medicine and healthcare. I remember before the pandemic blew up, when the first cases were reported in Wuhan, China, the Korean govt immediately worked with our dominant biopharmaceutical companies to make testing kits. And within three months, we had 200 million+ test kits ready for our population of around 55 million. Later on, the very same companies worked on synthesizing local vaccines for free use later on. If there is a sector that needs heavy govt intervention, that would be health and pharmaceuticals. I am not saying that Korea is the best country, no country is, but I can confidently say that checks and balances for companies involved in healthcare and medicine in Korea are regulated properly to work in the interest of the people. I hope the opposite situation in the US gets resolved by rational minds.
@@SeoWoojin55 no, friend they won't be resolved by rational minds...because U.S.has allowed such monster to hatch in its midst, that to root it out it would be impossible without some drastic measures. This nation is so divided, tIhat its basically falling apart from within....all because of greed, hypocrisy and absence of will of our government to stand against it and root it out. American people are very unhappy people, but they have been sedated by influence of corporate propaganda and they don't even know they are being held hostage of powers that control every aspect of their lives
Healthcare in this country is clear example of what lm talking about...
"The health care system is failing our children." The US health care system is failing our people, all our people. Profit and health care should not mix. The whole system needs to change dramatically!
It's unlikely it will ever change thanks to the US Supreme Court and their moronic Citizens United decision. Basically it's legalized bribery where you can buy congressional votes and nobody "contributes" more than the medical and pharmaceutical conglomerates.
Obviously YT deleted the 1 reply indicated. It just confirms to me what has become obvious in Every part of life. These drug companies r in it for riches. Trump was on the verge of enforcing a bill requiring that the cost of Every item, drug, procedure in a med facility Must be given to a patient. Also, beginning to drop the price of ingredients, mfg, the drugs most in demand r made enough of to fill requirements, and many go betweens eliminated. Also giving mfgs, hospitals, etc. a Fair profit which would eliminate the entire cost down apx 3/4 of the current prices. (An antibiotic I had taken several xs cost me apx $2 a pill. Overnight, the dr had told me my insurance wouldnt cover the price which was $97 pr pill. I asked wtf. He said 'profit'. The U.S. is the highest healthcare in the world. The 2nd is 70% below us. And to see the sickening greed on Every level is just pure evil. To live in abject fear that we, a child or family member may require medical health care because nobody can afford it is sickening, and yes, something must be done. I cant help but notice that the quanity of every jab, booster, next varient, 2nd jab for next varient, booster for that one is in huge supply in multiple wharehouses everywhere. Plus their prediction of what, when, name of varient, etc. have all been named and r just waiting for that next breakout!
And quickly.
It's a terrible system and EVERYONE knows it, yet literally nothing will get done to fix it. There are many solutions to this problem and the only ones who matter are the shareholders of the insurance companies because the government gave them free reign with our healthcare system.
Needs to change but doubt it ever will.
“We’re not a charity, we’re a business” yes, but you do use publically funded researches to make your medicines.
"publically"?
All grammar-Naziing aside, this may very well open the door to new competitors/emerging technologies that will upend the whole industry.
i.e., when the taxicab, cable tv, and eyewear monopolies got just a little too brash and arrogant with their customers, it led to their getting annihilated by ridesharing, streaming, and online-eyeglass manufacturing respectively.
At least here in America, not only pharmaceutical manufactuers, but also the higher education and real estate sectors have been losing a *lot* of goodwill lately.
And methinks that American resourcefulness and ingeniosity will soon remedy that.
@@grantorino2325 I don’t know what you were trying to point out by singling out “publically” but you are thinking of traditional free-market economy.
Yes, companies that become too arrogant are usually rooted out through innovation, but pharmaceudical companies are different. They are different in a sense that their medications are already beyond innovative and are already saving many lives. By having less of these medications in the market at the moment, many people who are in need are dying. Unlike smartphones for example, countless lives would not be lost every day if Apple controlled lets say 90 percent of the market. The current phones would have probably been less immpressive, but still we wouldn’t have people dying.
Sure you may argue that these companies are not charities, thus are not obligated to look after the well being of the society and etc. but if these medications are not profitable and are not necessarily beneficial for the company, then they should sell the rights so that someone else can still produce them.
@@far2kthoughts158
The drugs are *generic* , which means that they have no "rights" to "sell" in the first place. If *you yourself* wanted to manufacture a generic drug, then they couldn't stop you.
The thing is: They want to manufacture drugs that they own (namely, on which they have patent protection) for 20 years, or so, before those *also* become generic-and the whole cycle begins anew.
Can *you yourself* build a factory that will produce those generic drugs and effectively distribute them? If so, then more power to you! But if not, then rest assured: With enough demand, somebody somewhere will!
P.S., it's spelled "publicly."
@@grantorino2325 Oh there are plenty of companies that can and do manufacture these generic drugs for cheap. In Canada, Mexico, and other countries. That's why so many Americans illegally order foreign-made drugs online, which exposes them to a variety of risks.
Why are these companies not operating in the US, you ask? Because US policies are written by corporate lobbyists who have a vested interest in squashing competition and monopolizing markets, and our regulatory agencies are run by ex-executives of pharma companies. We currently live in a pro-trust, anti-competition political regime.
@@grantorino2325 You pro-market guys have a very simplistic understanding of how the economy works. For one, your example about how streaming services “disrupted” the cable monopoly is silly… almost all media production and distribution in this country like TV networks, film studios, broadband subscriptions, and even streaming platforms (except Netflix which is now dying) is controlled by five mega corporations… and among them is Comcast, whose profits have SOARED over the last decade. No, the consummate cable company is doing better than ever.
As for real estate: land is a natural monopoly. It is the sale of physical space on Earth’s surface. There is no alternative. It won’t be “disrupted.” While there may be corrections in the market every few decades, real estate values will continue to increase on the average just like they have for centuries. Higher learning? Same thing. Top institutions will continue to favor applicants who graduated from old and respected Ivy League schools rather than from the latest online school. There is no alternative to a Harvard diploma.
As for pharmaceuticals, the barrier to entry into that industry is far too tall for any start up to surmount. Because of the enormously expensive technology and talent required to sustain a pharmaceutical company, the entire industry is controlled by a cartel of several multinationals who would never give up market share to a newcomer.
The fact that US citizens pay on average 6 times more than Europeans for the same (made in the US) medications should tell you everything you need to know.the reason is simple,in countries where they have universal healthcare, pharmaceutical companies have to deal with the government and if the prices are considered too high,they lose to competitors.so where do these pharmas are making their profits?in the US!!
You are completely correct.and the fact that governments can negotiate with pharmaceuticals means that they can get them for the cost of the drugs, not the additional cost of R&D. So the United States is footing the entire cost of new drug research, basically subsidizing other countries, who also benefit. If we had government national healthcare, pharmaceutical companies would either have to raise prices so that all countries would pay for drug development or stop creating new drugs, which they could easily do and still make money on their existing drugs. Unfortunately, that would mean the end of most medical progress.
@@juliahello6673 or so you think. You should remember that every new med has a 20 year exclusive for its manufacturer, so we all pay the r& d. What you're paying is all the middleman industries and obscene CEO bonuses
@@MarcelaElviraTimis lol, less than 1/6th of the rnd as the drug still takes a portion of price. It's one thing if that's a "developing nation" imo but I assume that's out of economics more than ethics ie littl3 profit is better than no than no profit... the system (public + private sector) is not great....
@@mattmichael2441 dude, the r&d is usually done with taxpayer money. EVERYWHERE. Your problem isn't that big pharma is making SOME profit. Do you honestly think these corporations would sell to Canada, Mexico or the EU (to name a few) if they did NOT make some profit? LOL! Y'all are being PRICE GOUGED because YOUR politicians let THEM make the prices... for a fee, of course. I mean, 4-year campaignin' ain't free, ya know?
@@juliahello6673 This is a typical myth Americans tell. European countries respects patent protections of drug manufacturers, so they do indeed pay for their R&D as well. The American system is just bad in so many ways, so a lot of the cost goes into administration, rather than to actually pay for the drug itself. The true price of a drug does pay for R&D when looking at the patent timeframe, which is why brand name drugs are so expensive; especially in the beginning.
For example, I live in Denmark and took the brand name drug of rizatriptan, called Maxalt, for migraines many years. They cost like $5/pill for years during the patent period. Might not seem like a lot, but migraines are one of the most common neurological disorders in the country, so the market is huge.
After the patent expired the cost/pill is $0.40.
How is it possible that we pay the highest prices for healthcare in the United States and hospitals are running out of basic tools. We need serious reform to our system NOW!
Totally agree
Because somehow, our form of capitalism is all about profits instead of competition to make the best product for the market. So we can't have the government make the drugs, or the equipment, or offer a basic level of care because that's socialism instead of what it really is, fair market competition.
@@c187rocks thats not "our form of capitalism" its just capitalism
@@c187rocks yes, someone probably will yell socialism as soon as that happens
Because we keep voting against our own interests and keep electing the wrong people to US Congress - Representatives and Senators. These corporate Millionaires and Billionaires protect their own profit margins over the people they're supposed to serve.
And yet we still pay over twice as much, often more, than the rest of the developed world. This is what happens when the only thing that matters is money, not human life, not our environment, not even keeping our own planet inhabitable is more important than profits. We will go extinct before we cut the quarterly profits of corporations. We are insane
You got it 💯💯
You’re confusing generic pharmaceuticals with patented drugs. The US spends slightly less on generics than most other countries!
@@Dunve $600 insulin, a drug that’s been around since the 50s is generic. It takes Pennie’s to manufacture and costs maybe $10 in Canada. Why do American diabetics have to spend so much more?
@@piros44 I addressed this in another comment. Insulin isn’t 1 single product… did you know that? You’re talking about the most expensive and currently patented long release insulin. Instead if you chose a NPH and Rapid insulin schedule prices are very similar…
This whole system is broken because it is for-profit and not for-patients. The government doesn't want to stifle innovation but their lack of involvement in prive regulation and distribution just means GPOs can step in and complicate everything. So annoying.
It actually stifles innovation. R&D is not a profitable process.
I don't understand why the drug manufacturers don't create there own GPO division and sell directly to hospitals???? how can a 3rd party be more powerful than the provider?
No more children need to die to line a CEO's pockets. Abolish private health care today.
@@boxing.ascetic for profit is how we wound up here in the first place. Free markets is exactly what caused this problem.
What’s more annoying, we taxpayers provide the funding to pharmaceutical companies to research and make these drugs and then they keep all the profits.
“Administrative fee” as in the person who takes your money, but never answers the phone when you call or is never in the office when you go by the office.
We don't have a health care system. We have a For Profit Industry.
A "fee" is a cost, not a person or an office.
@@mikemondano3624 true. But missing the point.
@@mikemondano3624 they were saying that's the person the administrative fee goes towards. Context clues are everything.
@@mikemondano3624 so, if administrators, are not administrating, why is there an administrative fee?
Our healthcare system is failing on so many different levels. Prioritizing profit above people's care and welfare is an abomination. Improvements need be made and quickly.
No, 'improvements' won't fix anything. A for-profit health care system is fundamentally broken. We need national health care today.
The Australian government pays for my medication in hospital. All of it. Our government tells drug companies what they will get paid, within reason. Not the other way around.
And it's why prices are so high in America. The rest of the world free loads.
@@Wowzersdude-k5c that is incorrect information
Sometimes I miss communist Albania
@@oinn8003 me too man, me too.
@@Wowzersdude-k5c Greedy Pharma charges more in the US because they COULD & our pathetic Government does NOTHING. At least in these other countries the government looks out for the peoples well being, not the other way around!
As the sister of a man who had childhood leukemia and was in the clinical trial for vincristine and the mother of a child with SMA, for which treatments have only been approved within the last five years, this news story upsets me as much as anything that has happened over the past couple of years... And that has been a lot.
It's called, "THINING THE HEARD!",,, the best way for Government's to control population growth comes in many way's. ALL Companies are tied into Government Leadership to "thin the heard". 'isn't that nice ',,,,,,
America a country with the courage and political will to sanction and trade war two of the biggest superpowers in the world and modern history but dates not lift a finger against its own corporations.......if u truly wants to know who owns America just follow the money trail.
My son got cancer in 2012. He spent a lot of time in the hospital, needing a stem cell transplant and then having a lot of complications. There were several times they were short on the drugs they needed. IV Tylenol seemed especially in short supply. There are so many things wrong with our healthcare situation. It’s so sad.
I'm with you until the word sad. Sad is when a goldfish dies. This is criminal. And enraging.
@@hereholdthiswillya yes, all those. Sometimes I am too, too overwhelmed to feel more than sad when being put back into that place though. I still don’t have the energy for rage. It seems very personal still and remembering the pain, fear, and anguish we endured when meds weren’t available. Having to wait for something lifesaving to show up. How does a parent put on a brave face for their child when that happens? It’s so hard. I’m glad other people can have the rage that can more readily be turned to action while I still get stuck on “sad.”
@@michelleb7399 fair enough!! Oh I am so sorry for all you've been thru. It's a testament to your goodness that you only get sad. I'd probably go off in ways most unbecoming.
It should be totally deregulated and privatized. Only thing that should be regulatet totally is animal testing and clinical trials.
@@mattbanks3517 you drank their flavor-aid dude. Watch out it's poisonous.
"Prove it," you say. Ok, all the countries with the best health statistics overall have socialized medicine.
In regards to TEVA no longer making vincristine, the company is, in fact, broke. They have over 20 billion in debt on the books, and they are in extreme cash conservation mode. Now, they will only produce drugs that make the most money, because they have limited manufacturing lines, and they don’t have the money to build additional lines. I know this, because I worked for them. It was a nightmare to work there.
The reason Teva has so much debt is because of a horrible acquisition they made with actavis pharma. This could have been prevented, if the officials as the FTC would have blocked the acquisition, but they let it proceed with Teva meeting various preconditions.
I will also say the government needs to negotiate with manufacturers directly and remove the GPO middlemen. This situation is just ridiculous.
Markets tend toward oligopoly when left to their own devices. The government's antitrust powers are necessary to make markets competitive. We knew that once but have forgotten over the past 40 years.
Also, acquisitions are frequently the best way to surge profits for Stock Prices /CEO/CFO etc.
The saddest part of all is vincristine is a ingredient used strictly for children getting chemotherapy to take the sting out and this is what they're doing to our children this is horrible!
One of the big lies in America is that our healthcare system is better than Canadas because without our for profit system there would be waiting lines and shortage of care. The truth is that pharmaceutical companies and hospitals collude together to drive up prices, force scarcity on medicine and care and make America’s healthcare system the most expensive in the world and provide some of the worst care comparatively to other 1st world countries. The pharmaceutical executive that said, “you got to remember these companies aren’t charities…” thats right and thats why the federal government should step in to protect its citizens and make healthcare in this county free, affordable, price regulated and take it out of the hands of greedy corporations that have shown time and time again that killing people to make a buck is a standard business practice in their calculus for running their Fortune 500 company. US healthcare is disgusting aberration of what it should, and rightfully be. Instead sending billions overseas, spend that money here at home.
As long as maximization of profit is the ONLY basis for corporate valuation, we're going to have this. It's not just corporate greed, it's also demands by Wall Street analysts.
the problem isn't capitalism, it's third party payers. Substituting a public one for a private one isn't going to fix the problem. Look at Medicare-they already pay less than the care that the patients get. Can you imagine what would happen if the government stepped in and took *all* the incentive out of providing health care?
The givernment contemplates a change.... Here have some bri.... ehrm i mean "lobbying money".
America is the most blatantly corrupt industrialized country in the world.
Sure, but be prepared for massive tax hikes if we go single payer. And expect no innovation.
@@Wowzersdude-k5c It wouldn't see a huge tax increase though, many other similar countries do it and they are taxed normally at levels similar to U.S. taxes and don't have to worry about going bankrupt
It’s really sad that humans can do this to each other. Like seriously!!
“It’s Easier to Fool People Than It Is to Convince Them That They Have Been Fooled.” - Mark Twain
We don't have a health care system. We have a For Profit Industry.
Because America doesn't have a healthcare system rather it have a healthcare industry, where healthcare providers are free to nickel and dime everyone till the last drop. Insulin for example, take next to nothing to produce yet drug manufacturers are charging hundreds of dollar for a single vial of such a essential lifesaving drug.
If this keeps up humanity is on the way to complete destruction which is really scary 😧
@@PraveenSrJ01 humanity or just Americans?
@@DarkZerol That's right. Until we don't let them. It's up to us to organize ourselves to stop it. Instead of trying to change laws (because Big Pharma will always BUY the laws) ... what if we all showed up at the drug companies with signs that read 'SHAME!!!!!!!!" ??? And supported the journalists who expose these sorts of things. Without them (and there are many. Not only the 60 Mins group), we wouldn't even know about this (unless affected personally). I dunno. We do have more power than we imagine. It's how we organize ourselves to deal with those things that don't work.
Something creepy about the economics here. The demand for life-saving drugs (being inelastic) should be driving reasonable profits. Somebody seems to have a price gouging addiction to patent[ed] medicines.
it's the patent laws and their design.
No. A new drug costs >$2bn USD from R&D to roll-out. Most of that cost is in the extensive procedures for clinical trials and FDA approval. The costs for manufacturing drugs of any sort are insane too. Once a drug has been developed, patented and approved, manufacturing the new drug using their existing expensive fixed assets like the plant, equipment, salaried professionals, etc. It doesn't make sense to produce a lot of cheap drugs because the costs are primarily NOT in raw materials, i.e. the chemical constituents needed for a drug's production. Even those costs are sky high now. These economic decisions aren't malicious. If you want public health to be placed over profits, some degree of government agency over the issue is required.
One answer is a government subsidy program. We are already risking a lot by importing Indian pharmaceuticals. Higher profit margins but the pharmacokinetic profile of these drugs are sometimes way off and in no way meet the standards for the FDA's generic label. The generic drug must be sufficiently the same in all meaningful respects. Currently, that's not always the case. The pandemic played a large part in this.
That’s what I was thinking
*canada selling insulin for 25$*
US: 200$ is not enough to cover production costs
Insulin isn’t one product. There’s multiple types of insulin. When you say $200 in the USA, that’s just the average price including the most expensive novel insulin products. If you look at generic NPH and rapid insulin, prices are very similar.
Nice try though.
The story should have covered the CEO wages of all the companies mentioned, production, and middle men.
Here is the solution: The USA has about 100 pharmacy schools and even many more chemistry and chemical engineering departments. Get them to survey the production need and parcel out the work across the entire country. They can sell direct to the hospitals and use the profits to drive down tuition.
Won’t work too many middle men will fight tooth and nail to fight it.
Make sure the bad publicity is more expensive for pharmaceutical companies than providing the drugs. Loss leader is a valid business practice.
Right
how about every bad publicity 1.500 billion$ per bad publicity id bet fix their damn racket then increase till they break
How you going to do that when so many of the pharmaceutical companies peddling 'goods' that aren't off patent are MONOPOLIES for the 'good' in question. It's an evil industry and we're seeing what they're capable of right now, so many refuse to see it.
I'm British and my sister is married to a American and has moved to the states , and I'm sending over the counter medicines for headaches and indigestion because she says the stuff you get over the counter in the states doesn't work as well, she thinks that's so more people go the doctor so they can make more money . Really I think she's mad living in the states just on the healthcare issue
The NICU doctor sounded like he was working out of a MASH unit in a war-torn country, but no, he works in one of the top medical centers in America. Something is seriously wrong when American hospitals can't get basic, life-saving drugs due to corporate greed, yet Americans are charged the most for healthcare.
When I see things like this I thank GOD I didn’t take the bait to migrate to America (America has really great PR I must say).
I’m a doctor myself and I am more than happy that I live in a European country with universal/socialised health care.
The Government negotiates prices with drug companies and we get it either for free or at a fixed price depending on individual financial circumstances.
Every single medication is one price (about $12), If you must pay.
Miss me with the “yOu PaY hIgHeR tAxEs”
Cos by calculation we really don’t.
I’ll say it again if the financial burden of healthcare is on the government, they have an incentive to keep you healthy.
It’s cheaper for them to prevent a disease than to pay for a cure, so they’ll do everything possible to prevent it. Starting from diet, screening etc.
Somethings are allowed in American food, but it’s banned in Europe (go figure)
I can’t imagine not being able to treat a patient cos of funds or something as silly as this.
Even the 3rd world country where I’m originally from isn’t this bad.
United States of America aka “The Trenches”
Doctors in Europe make peanuts compared to doctors in America.
It’s true bro. We people in this country are treated as if they are genuinely expendable, and sadly half of us believe that being treated that way is a good thing.
Let us serve as a warning for what happens when capital runs unchecked, so that other nations may be spared our missteps.
@@Wowzersdude-k5c you’re being funny right? Doctors should not be doctors for the paycheck…
@@HE-162 Why would someone go through 12 years of school to make $70k?? You're not going to have very many doctors in such a scenario.
@@Wowzersdude-k5c nah dude even in america doctors can barely pay off student loans so even if they get paid more they don't see that money at the end of the day. It's mainly insurance companies artificially driving up prices because hospitals know insurance companies will pay whatever price the hospital names.
The pharmaceutical companies have become absolutely despicable.
they've always been like this
Capitalism has always been like this too!
It’s not just them. They’re horrible too, but it’s also the middle companies & most importantly, the system as a whole. Notice how they’re only stopping production in the US. Other countries don’t have for-profit healthcare systems. That also has a lot to do with all this, because the middle men take into consideration the bottom line of the hospitals & in this country hospitals are businesses.
Pharma and western medicine is the modern day gas chamber...
It's called, "THINING THE HEARD!",,, the best way for Government's to control population growth comes in many way's. ALL Companies are tied into Government Leadership to "thin the heard". 'isn't that nice ',,,,,,
This is why it is continually stated that things like health care shouldn't be for profit!. We knew that the mail had to be non profit because it wouldn't make financial sense to deliver to rural areas, but we can't put 2 and 2 together on health care. I am so tired of our country being run by companies that just care about how much money the can squeeze out of it until it folds and they move on the somewhere else.
Yet the incentive of profit is what drives the pharmaceutical companies to develop new drugs.
Everyone and everything is not motivated by money. The person who discovered the polio vaccine gave it away to help children who suffered the most from the disease. I would argue that if your main reason for finding a cure for disease is financial, and you are just going to sell it to the highest bidder once found. Then your impact on society would be minimal since only those who could afford your cure would benefit and that may not be very many people. Furthermore the government does research all the time in a not for profit environment. That is how we got the internet etc.
Far too many of these healthcare and pharma companies are owned or controlled by private equity funds.
@@rdean150 so many things are owned by these places and as people can see with the housing market right now. They only care about their roi at the expense of all else
@@lysabelle3990 excellent point. Doctors, scientists, and pharmaceutical companies respond to financial incentives just like everyone else. I believe that most people have altruism as one of their motivating factors. Also “non-profit”, does not necessarily mean lower cost. People who work for non-profit medical organizations still get paid. I believe that most people want to do the right thing, but they still deserve to be compensated for their work.
I propose a new patent law:
If patent holders can't produce their drugs or medical technology in the amounts needed, compounding pharmacies and independent 3d printing manufacturers should be able to produce the amount needed for their local population with protection from lawsuits protecting the patent.
This video is about generic drugs…
If we nationalized drug production we wouldn’t have this problem. It’s an abomination that lifesaving drugs aren’t getting produced because of “profit.” What has private ownership of drug companies done for us? Nothing
That's probably the only thing that would make this problem even worse.
The people who develop the drug should get an award, and then the drug is public domain and can be produced by like any generic drug and a public owned pharmacutical company should be developed
No more children need to die to line a CEO's pockets. Abolish private health care today.
@@barneygimble8497 Sounds good, but eventually when a mistake is made and people are injured or killed by a faulty batch of drugs, who's going to hold the government accountable?
My biggest issue with the idea of government going into business is that there is no way to regulate them. Not to mention, of course, that government is inherently inefficient and wasteful.
You can't keep foisting power into the hands of the few and expect that they aren't going to exploit that power for themselves.
@@drfang68
You know, ALL covid vax manufacturer are immune from.liabilitu?
The gov is far.more accountable to the people than a corporation
This could all be fixed through laws that cut the middle man and the fees for drugs that are not expensive, yet are necessary. Then they can remain inexpensive, and be made readily available.
Or maybe... the real issue is the system that created these problems in the first place?
Noooo can't be! We just need reform guys! I'm sure congress would never take money from big pharma and vote against the will of the people. Congress will pass a law soon I promise!
Once there is a middle man they are hard to get rid of. Maybe if there is a legal overhaul. There are lots of industries like this
Get rid of the insurance companies too. They’re the people dictating which meds we can get, not the doc.
Every single Republican Senator voted against a bill to stop pharmaceutical price gouging. The current situation exists because our lawmakers chose it, plain and simple.
@@rdean150 I wouldn't blame our lawmakers so much as the societal belief that medical care and patient outcomes are better under a capitalist system rather than socialized medicine. We leave these drugs and their manufacturing up to business executive who only look at profits vs resource input. If they can cut a small margin drug and reallocate the manufacturing resources to a higher profit margin drug and increase revenues, then capitalism and shareholders are gonna dictate they do so.
The only reason the US is so antithesis towards a single payer healthcare system is that all this rent-seeking middle men would collapse... Billions of dollars are made from fees and commissions.. Patients are the one that pays for it.
Well, Obama got the ball toward positive change rolling but had limited success. Everyone started screaming about socialized medicine and how it was going to raise their taxes and destroy the country. Meanwhile, this problem, among a myriad of others, continued to get worse. If you are seriously concerned about healthcare in the United States, then you need to seriously think about how you vote.
Universal Healthcare would solve this problem. But shareholders, CEO's and lobbyists want us all to think the solution is complicated.
GPO's and Distributors don't have to exist, they should stop accusing the FDA for this situation. If the manufacturers get the bulk of the profit from sales, and not GPOs and Distributors, they could keep their plants quality control compliant and still profitable.
Imagine. In Syria, meds aren’t available because they can’t afford it. In America, meds aren’t made because it only profits the companies $10 million instead of $100 million.
"Corporations aren't charities." Most damning quote in the piece referring to BigPharma.
An increase in trained Compounding Pharmacists could go a long way in helping patients in need. Walgreens and CVS are to blame for that. No one right out of pharmacy school wants to work for a small pharmacy when the big boys offer 6 figures for an entry level pharmacist job.
Compounded meds often cost significantly more than the meds seperate. That's not the answer.
@@Matt-fl8uy what I’m saying is if the drug companies are simply refusing to make the drugs I don’t see another option. No one has incentive to sell some of these drugs, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t needed. The insurance companies also have the government by the balls even more so than the pharms in some ways, so the fda can’t step in and force teva or whoever to make these drugs.
Nope, nope, nope. The FDA is on the hook here. When a pharmacist is making their own meds day in and day out, the FDA can’t control every little thing. Yes, the FDA is important and yes they mean well. But pharmacists aren’t being allowed to do what they were trained to do without a massive hassle. So as a result we see many compounding pharmacies shutting down and no new ones opening.
It's time for the defense production act to be put into play for these medicines.
We need to restart the conversation to nationalize medicine because one can't count on the kindness of corporations to do the right thing.
That would be the end of new drugs and cures for diseases.
Or stop paying private companies to do their job. I saw this segment on dialisys clinics, for one, and I was kinda in shock. Like, seriously? And your govt IS footing the bill for that, instead of making public hospitals and clinics
@@mikemondano3624 you do realize the government already funds 20-40% of research right? They used to fund 70% in the 70s and people were getting along fine back then. There are ways to create competitive incentives without the free market also
The government is horrendous at managing the IRS, and you want to hand them the healthcare system!? There has to be a better idea. Something better than what Europe does.
@@katylee1914 didn't the billionnaires' on duty influence peddlers make your government cut their funding to the point they can't afford to audit the lawyered-up big shots?
There is a different level of evil that puts profits over the lives of people in need of life-saving/extending care.
If the company goes bankrupt then where is the drug? Profits are needed. We wouldn't have this problem if more companies were allowed to even exist. But the FDA makes it very difficult for competition
I remember a guy who preached "deregulation" (another way he said it was "...government is the problem"). He also Cut the Capital Gains Tax (and that is why profit *growth* has become "more important" than people).
For profit is ruining this country. Why can’t we develop systems that work because they need to work not because a lot of money can be made to do so?
The current system needs to be completely removed and a new one created. Medications are not luxuries or optional. Medication should NEVER have been for-profit.
This is the epitome of healthcare and even though I get mine through my benefits I still won't even go to a doctor out of fear where they're going to send me next or what they're going to tell me to take for 30 years and then tell me to go lump it after I'm medically addicted to it due to 30 years of taking it
what is medically addicted? there's no addiction with medications that do not produce euphoria in the brain. "addiction" doesn't even make sense in reference to blood pressure medicine for example, or Motrin, literally only euphoria producing medication can be addictive. And even with medications that can be addictive, It's criminal that doctors are forced by emotionally driven legislation to take people off needed pain medicine because someone's kid overdosed on a street drug. That's a tragedy for sure but it's not right to take people off medicine they need for real conditions.
Oh yes. More compassion and trust. Its impossible to trust a dr at all anymore. I was taking a sm amt of a low schedule drug. 1/2 pill a day for 35 yrs. My Dr retired and the next just cut me off. No notice, nothing. His excuse was he didnt believe in that type of drug. RAGE! I told him his beliefs were of no concern to me, My needs and trtmt (a disease that would progress for the rest of my life) so I could continue to have a life was my only concern. It not only cost my job, my home, all aspects of living, but having aquired apx 130 more patients, proceeded to cut them all off of pain, heart, bp, etc. Sev committed suicide, others died frm their med problems. Not to sound crazy, but someone a few months later wired an explosive to his vehicle. My point is they dont care anymore. Its sad and its scary
@@dead2802 that's horrific that doctors could be that moralistic and stupid. And the laws don't help either. I absolutely can't believe he took people off hypertension meds and heart medicine, omg. I hope he was investigated.
@@michah321 I filed a level 1 and 2 complaint with my insurance company it went dead in the water tight end up like that gentleman doctor above he never know that's what happens especially when it's mental health medication, on top of having an health illness of twenty-seven years which they knew I didn't get in till after I started the medication so they could have stopped the medication and any damn time but note that I have me take it for 29 straight years and then told me to go lump myself at the height of covid September 2020 and the insurance company said that he was well within his rights to do what he did oh and not to mention it was over Valium which I normally didn't take it was given to me for two flights over 2 years but he kept accidentally prescribing it and the lady who worked at the pharmacy called up there griping to him when I told her that I would get this taken care of because it was still in his notes so between the two of them yeah it cost me my doctor and my meds for the rest of my life but don't worry cuz I'll see her eventually to like I said they were only my mental health medications! In the end he told the insurance company I was late to my appointment by 4 minutes
"profits are too low"
DAMN RIGHT!!! As they should be.
Medicine isn't a business, it's a necessary public service.
Quit whining, and stop hiding behind your patents. Just help sick people.
They just want more government handouts to the rich.
It's a finite commodity. It is a business and should be.
"Just help sick people". What's stopping you? You don't get to demand something you have no right to. Sounds like whining to me.
@@agisler87 I know right... It should be a business, even though it currently is and that's not working.
And no, it's not a finite commodity, it's a necessity. It's simple molecules like water we're talking about.
@@HardlyLegal It's a business that is highly regulated with 70% off all healthcare being paid for by the government. US healthcare is broken because of broken government policies. It's a closer to a socialist system than a free market.
Water is a necessity but that won't make it less scarce in the desert. You can't magically wish into existence more doctors, medicines, and medical equipment.
@@agisler87 I got ya.. US healthcare is broken because of government, everywhere else is saved by government policies.
btw the policies in the US are there for safety, aka you can't do something that will harm a patient.
And that money that is going to publicly funded projects, is going straight to private industries "research and development" where businesses can spent it to their liking. Your tax dollars are going straight to a private company to create something to then sell back to you.
US spends around 4 trillions $ a year and yet can’t provide not only essential medicines to its patients but more than 30 million citizens don’t have access to health care. Brutal!
The system need government intervention, just like Healthcare in general. It is a human right, but you can't expect these for-profit businesses to act against their own interests, to a degree. Yes there are issues with pricing (gouging the consumer, entitlement program, and insurance companies), but set aside all other issues and consider this: A new drug costs >$2bn USD from R&D to roll-out. Most of that cost is in the extensive procedures for clinical trials and FDA approval. The costs for manufacturing drugs of any sort are insane too. Once a drug has been developed, patented and approved, manufacturing the new drug using their existing expensive fixed assets like the plant, equipment, salaried professionals, etc. It doesn't make sense to produce a lot of cheap drugs because the costs are primarily NOT in raw materials, i.e. the chemical constituents needed for a drug's production. Even those costs are sky high now. These economic decisions aren't malicious. If you want public health to be placed over profits, some degree of government agency over the issue is required.
One answer is a government subsidy program. We are already risking a lot by importing Indian pharmaceuticals. Higher profit margins but the pharmacokinetic profile of these drugs are sometimes way off and in no way meet the standards for the FDA's generic label. The generic drug must be sufficiently the same in all meaningful respects. Currently, we are getting drugs
R&D as well as clinical trials are completely funded by US taxpayers. Unfortunately, when pharmaceutical companies patent the results of the “invention”, they receive All profits from it, never paying back the $ that was given to them 🤔 If they were required to share the profits from the patented product or better yet place in the public domain and allow others to manufacture the product, prices would control themselves through competition! In addition, remove lobbyists from the political sphere altogether. Just my 2 cents!
Here in india 🇮🇳, in last 2-3 years lots of generic drug stores opened. Thanks to the government. But doctors still dont recommend this medicine beccoz they are in big pharma companies pocket.
This is the best example of why leaving everything purely to the "Market" is bound to fail. Gov't needs to step in with some regulations inevitably... although ideal is not too many regs. Tough balance act.
Except we don't have a "market" in the US. The government pays for about 70% of all healthcare. It's the regulations that are why we have such a mess.
This is so sad! Insurance companies should be forced to pay enough for generic drugs to be made right here in America. They should all be readily available and every hospital should be well stocked on all essential drugs. If we can't force insurance companies to pay, then our tax dollars need to be spent on this. Stop sending billions to foreign aid until we fix our own problems!
I’m tired of for profit medical care. This needs to end. I’m done. It’s time to make healthcare delivery and payment public. Does this whole segment sound like this is happening in the richest country in the world? No.
There needs to be tighter regulation of drug companies. I suffer from epilepsy. for forty years I've taken Phenobarbital.
Just ten years ago, I could get it in Target Pharmacy for $7.00 per prescription. Now the cost has quintupled. Rifraxamin, an antibiotic that is often used to treat GI issues can cost almost two thousand dollars. I wound up having to use a Canadian pharmacy that imported the antibiotic from India. It took six weeks to arrive but it only cost me 100.00.
I want the government to step in and do it themselves, healthcare shouldn't be about making as much money as possible, these capitalist values that America seems to have is killing our people.
Medicare for all would fix this position, major countries throughout the world provide healthcare for free to their citizens; only in the USA healthcare is for profit. Congress & the Senate need to work for the people not for Big Pharma. Sad country this is, greed has no boundary.
The government MUST STOP funding to ALL drug companies who STOP manufacturing drugs for low profitability.
Companies should be forced to make things that cause more to make than they can sell it for?
@@lijohnyoutube101 read the comment again. All these companies get tons of money from the government. This isn't the "free market".
And yeah, the government should make these drugs then.
It's called, "THINING THE HEARD!",,, the best way for Government's to control population growth comes in many way's. ALL Companies are tied into Government Leadership to "thin the heard". 'isn't that nice ',,,,,,
In Denmark, we have a government website that shows how much all the drugs approved in the country cost, and their historical price developments. The medications cost the same in every pharmacy in the country, because the pharmacies buy the drugs from the national supplier, and are allowed to take a 20% profit for them.
The healthcare ministry sends out orders for specific drugs to be sold on the Danish market and companies then bid for the right to sell it. This is fair to the manufacturers and the buyers/patients, because it allows for the prices to increase if there are no profits to be made with past prices and keeps companies from scalping the market since there is potential for competition.
We need the government to step in and regulate drug manufacturers! Not only production of drugs but how much they can charge. Eliminate for profit middle men.
They are like one of the most regulated industries already? It's not working, these regulations are the problem
And nobody talks about overregulation and blames pharmaceutical companies to whom the government gave the right to be basically be monopolies since you need extremely long testing procedures to produce drugs like that which make any newcomer companies unable to produce them
The hospitals waste meds too. My partner is an RN and they “waste” leftover tablets and iv drugs with a coworker all the time (2 employees at once for confirmation it was truly wasted). It seems ridiculous that they can’t put something as simple as tablet of percocet that a patient didn’t consume back into the supply versus dropping it in a waste container that sludges and destroys it. Throwing away money and completely usable drugs that can be used for others. Yet they have no problem charging a healthy fee with decent profit for each tablet/drug they give you in a hospital setting. Not really the same situation as what’s in this video but it’s wasteful. I think our government should enforce a requirement they make less profit generics along side with their pocket raping drugs too. I mean can’t the company also have some compassion or is it truly all greed at the cost of lives? Sad.
That’s probably due to contamination issues.
As a nurse I can tell you that once you pop a tablet out of its packaging it is legally considered used even if the patient does not take it. For non narcotic meds this is mostly an infection control measure but with narcs you must account for each and every tablet and once dispensed they cannot be legally added back into the count. Failing to properly account for a narcotic can cost you your license. Sometimes people try to add them back after punching them out of the cards by pushing the pill back in and taping over the slot but if I find this during shift change I will insist that the tablet be removed and wasted before accepting the med cart because if a state healthcare surveyor found a re-taped/re-added tablet in my narc count I would be fired faster than you can say AHCA and likely have to stand before the state board of nursing and explain my actions and pray they didn't revoke my license.
Because that could end up hurting someone could u imagine. The nurses don't have time to put them back into the bottles they get them out of not only that but u could easily make a mistake and mix them up
This wouldn’t happen in France, Germany, Netherlands and Scandinavia. What a country America is? Health Care is dystopian.
Why can't we allow subsidies for these low-cost drugs, similar to what we due with agriculture and oil? Have the government pay for these pharmaceutical companies to manufacture these drugs.
You seriously would rather have your taxes go to line some CEOs pocket instead of actually changing the system?
C-mon man for-profit healthcare is clearly dysfunctional. Its time is up.
The US government spends billions in subsidizing drug trials. Even the biggest companies can't afford to do trials, they would go bankrupt before they got a new product out.
The problem is we as citizens pay for the trials through taxes. We literally pay pharma companies so they can actually produce drugs, which is fine. The problem being, why are they allowed to make disgusting profits off of medication that we as a nation paid for? Drug companies shouldn't be for profit and neither should hospitals.
Release all the non-violent drug offenders from prison and replace them with hospital execs/pharma execs. Y'know, the people sitting around making things more expensive while screwing over their employees and the population.
Guess what is the entire problem with American medical care:
*PROFIT*
This is a multi-factorial issue. Not only big pharma to blame. Plenty of blame on Medicare, the hospitals, and especially the GPOs. Patients and doctors caught in the middle. Generic drug manufacturing will need to become a government regulated utility. BTW the GPOs are the worst... mostly owned by insurance companies
Gosh. For a minute there I thought you were going to tell the truth: "Yet, year after year, the government stays on the sidelines …"
No. The government stays on the side of the pharmaceutical companies.
We need to quit relying on outsourcing everything and become self sufficient. There also needs to stop being a monopoly on pharmaceuticals, baby food, everything…. Doing so, would solve so many problems in the USA. The greed is disgusting!!
What about the other kids that don't have 60 minutes to back them up?
More of corporate greed there
Pull the drug company license if they don't do generic drugs.
Our hospital no longer stocks dextrose (glucose) on the units bc of the shortage, but a patient with low glucose can die in minutes I almost saw it happen one day. We had to open a whole crash cart for one vial, which new residents/nurses were scared to do bc of the cost. It is unsafe to not have it on the floor. The list of critical drugs not on the floor anymore is growing…
Glucose is not a drug. It is also cheap as dirt, so buy some yourself.
@@mikemondano3624 glucose tablets you can buy in the store are different than the glucose iv fluids and glucose injections that are needed in a hospital setting. For example an unconscious diabetic cannot chew and swallow a glucose tablet.
@@mikemondano3624 IV dextrose has to be sterile sir, go educate yourself. You cannot buy that without a prescription, and its not for me, it was for my patients, I do not have diabetes. It is sad that ppl are so uneducated these days.
@@mikemondano3624 Im a nurse, not a patient
@@EpwnaExeter exactly please vote this world is getting scary
Generic Delzicol is not available now in the pandemic. Only the brand name is available and that's too expensive. I have to apply for RX assistance from the company that makes the brand name Delzicol. Glad there's that option.
Thanks 60 minutes for bringing issues. We currently source our generics from international organizations. Forget the politics, they offer great quality with great prices.
Thankfully, I am not on any meds. I would avoid *any medications* from China. I stay clear of *any* foods product from China.
Oh, of course they want to blame it all on the FDA. None of it is the business's fault.
There is a place waiting for evil people like this!!
We need to switch to non-profit system for health insurance and should do the same for older, lower profit meds which the for-profit system won’t make. We have the same problem w/antibiotics and superbugs. The pharm companies don’t want to waste their time on making new antibiotics which the superbugs aren’t immune to bc we only take antibiotics for a short period of time. They’d rather make drugs which a person stays on long-term, which also means we aren’t looking for cures or prevention but instead looking for ways for patients to live w/the condition and all the side effects of the drugs for the rest of their lives. I’ve been on a medication for 27yrs and it’s still brand name only bc the pharmaceutical company which makes it pays generic manufacturers not to produce a generic drug making me and my drug insurance pay more than we would otherwise be paying every month I get a refill. The entire system is corrupted and doesn’t fulfill its purpose bc it’s for-profit. The healthcare system has more lobbyists on capital hill than any other industry. They’ve bought the entire GOP and corporate/establishment Dems. We need to elect more far-left Dems, which r the only politicians who aren’t in office to enrich themselves. They r the only politicians who can’t be bought by all these corrupt corporations which is why most of the media, the wealthy, corporations, the GOP, and to some extent, establishment Dems r always against the far-left Dems, especially if they r feeling the voters r supporting the far-left Dems more than the GOP and establishment Dems as we saw when Bernie won the first 3 states during the Dem primary elections of 2020. It was the landslide election of 1932 when we elected FDR, a far-left Dem, and Dem congress who saved American democracy and democracy worldwide. He was so loved by most ppl, except elites, he was elected 4x for president, 2 assassination attempts, and after his death the wealthy pushed congress to limit presidents to 2 terms and prevent the far-left Dems from ever getting in the more powerful seats speaker, majority/minority leaders, or president again. We won’t break this government which works more for the wealthy and corporations until we change the faction of politicians we’ve been voting for, at least since 1980. We began losing our more democratic/social democratic, for the ppl government in 1971 when a republican Supreme Court justice sent a memo to the US Chamber of Commerce titled, “The Lewis Powell Memo: a Corporate Blueprint to Dominate Democracy.” The ppl will continue to struggle and lose out until we take back our government!
This has been a slow progression since we’ve started the business practice where the increase of quarterly profits is only priority as a business model and now we’re at the point where capitalism is eating itself. You see it everywhere in everything. And that’s on top of the subsidies we give them.
Hospitals be like "$1000 for a bag of saltwater but let's the leftover drugs out of a vial like a Mexican restaurant reusing the free tortilla chip baskets."
I don't get it.
If the drug companies aren't seeing enough of a profit margin, why don't they just charge more for it?
Because they are lying. I just did a quick perusal through the 2021 10-K annual reports filed with the SEC for the largest & 2nd largest generic pharmaceutical manufacturers in the US.
So, Teva Pharmaceutical was the largest generic pharmaceutical manufacturer in the US up until 2020 I think when it was overtaken by Pfizer. In Teva's 2021 10-K annual report with the SEC in 2021 their "gross profit" for the North America Segment was $4.226 billion which was a 54.1% profit margin on their North American revenues. They define North America as the US & Canada. That is a fall from 2020 where they made $4.489 billion in gross profits at a 53.1% profit margin. Their note on the decline in revenue says it was due to "mainly due to increased competition on key products and lower volumes as well as lower revenues from generic launches in 2021."
As far as the shut down of manufacturing plants here is what they say in the 10-K filing, "Between 2017 and 2019, we closed or divested a significant number of manufacturing plants in the United States, Europe, Israel and Japan in connection with a restructuring plan. We are continuing our ongoing efforts to consolidate our manufacturing and supply network."
Then there is Viatris Inc., which was formed in November 2020 when Pfizer's Upjohn division & Mylan; this is when Teva was overtaken as the largest generic manufacturer. In regards to them closing certain parts of there business their 2021 10-K filing says this "In addition to integration activities with respect to Mylan and the Upjohn Business, Viatris is also implementing a significant global restructuring program in order to achieve specified synergies and ensure the new company is optimally structured and efficiently resourced to deliver sustainable value to patients, shareholders, customers, and other stakeholders."
Now they don't break out the gross profits by region or segment, but they do report "net sales" & the net sales for North America was $4.59 billion. It says their overall gross margins was 31% for 2021 & adjusted gross margins were "approximately 59%."
This is a very easy fix for all drugs. Since private companies refuse to step in to restock due to low profit margins the government should step in and make the drugs. I worked in the medical drug field. They have a drug book outlining what is in each drug basically like a cookbook so this is an easy problem to fix but the government refuses to work for the people
It’s too bad the Supreme Court and all the lawmakers don’t know about this! Someone should tell them! They care SO MUCH about the lives of children! 🙄 ‘murica 👍🏼
It's all about the all mighty dollar. The drug companies NEED TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR THIS KIND OF BEHAVIOR
When you make an industry for profit what do you expect?
Well, 1 Company means that all the profit from that one drug goes to that 1 company. If your the only company that produces a certain, highly needed drug, You can also choose not to sell that specific drug through a drug wholesaler/ purchase group, couldn’t you? After all, It’s not like they can just go to a different company, Your the only one who makes it! Surely the hospital would be willing to buy directly from you at that point, allowing you to charge the extra 20 bucks or so to keep things going.
As for Quality control problems, I have a solution for that too:
We’re sticking with the 1 company manufacturing the drug for this.
1. Multiple production sites.
Best to keep them in separate states (Neighboring states maybe?) for minimal risk. 3 Sites is a good minimum. For more than 3 sites, we’ll say a couple facilities in state A, A few in State B and Some in State C, That way it doesn’t become a pain for management since they won’t be spread across the entire US. A quality control issue can be isolated to 1 Production location, Allowing the suspension of only the affected site. The remaining production locations still be operational and this will prevent a Drug storage.
2. No shared Workers.
Sometimes employees unintentionally contaminate things. It happens. Say someone is sick (but not showing symptoms) and that person works at Site #1 In State A. State A also has Site #4, which is short-Staffed at the moment so this person is asked to work a day or two at Site #4. Well if this persons illness is able to contaminate the drug somehow, You’ve just possibly contaminated 2 different sites.
3. If there’s a risk of ingredients being contaminated from the source or in transit (Contamination Before actually reaching the Drug production facility), then each site could have a different ingredient supplier or in the case of more than 3, like with the states, they will share between A few different suppliers if possible to keep things manageable.
I’m sure there’s i perfections with this, and as always, it’s a different story once you involve money but i think this could be a good start. It’s at least better than the current system probably. The contaminant things are mostly speculative on my part, I don’t know what goes into making these (aside from chemistry 🧪) and I don’t know what contaminates them or how it happens but i tried to include a range of protective measures as a shot in the dark.
So how do we get in the business of making less profitable life saving drugs? Supply / demand.. it’s simple .. .
Remove the wholesalers !
It's like selling a car
And pricing it different to every buyer who calls..
It's not ethical
Why can't the hospitals open their own labs to produce the medicines that are easy to make?
Hospital labs are not that kind of lab. Most don't even have basic classic chemistry setups (like a college lab). Instead, the labs are full of specialized machines that run samples. Some of those machines will only accept reagents for testing in machine-specific configurations, like how you can only use one type of printer cartridge for one kind of printer.
Yep, sadly, follow the money. So sad that we’re seeing shortages on much needed medicine that could be saving lives.
My heart breaks in pieces just to know this little kid are suffering they're so innocent they shouldn't go through this I can't watch this video anymore.
Playing with market availability is manipulating Doctors into prescribing a more profitable yet less effective prescription regimen.
So many of humanity's problems are self-inflicted & preventable. Greed & ego are the root of all evil. Unfortunately those are the key ingredients that drive capitalism.
Government: "Here's the taxpayer money you need, to research/create an affordable drug to help people."
Company: "Okay. We made it. We're selling it for 50 dollars a pill, they gotta take one every day forever."
Government: "Can you make the pill cheaper?"
Company: "We need to recoup the research costs. But insurance will pay 45 out of the 50 bucks."
Government: "And for the uninsured?"
Company: "Well, they don't have money anyway, so why should we care?"
Government: "Sounds good to me."
About how I picture that conversation on capitol hill.
Why am I not surprised it's the USA after all... but at the same time it's insane how much of a stranglehold these pharmaceutical companies have over the US government. For example, in the USA a carton of insulin costs around 100 dollars while the exact carton cost around 8-10 dollars here in Europe.
The problem actually is they prefer only American or Western sources however there are other sources that are happy to supply these products but they are unwilling to take from like India and China. This is a preference created shortage and not really an actual shortage.
This is why someone needs to form a non-profit corporation to manufacture these drugs
Like the government...
@@MarcelaElviraTimis I'm not opposed to universal healthcare, but it seems as if half of the country is 🤷♂️
There have been shortages of my cardiac medications and my generic narcotic I use to keep my chronic severe pain under control. My Atenolol and Digoxin have been in shortage. Those two drugs keep me alive. I need those two medications every day. It’s scary every month not knowing if I will get my medications that I do desperately need.
“Because it doesn’t make enough profit.”
My sister was born in mexico and my parents expected that paying and doing the old school bribing would mean my premature sister would live. They were right, but the doctors claimed they didn’t pay ‘enough’ (aka my parents used all of their money. To the last coin to keep her alive.) and when the money ran out they literally gave this tiny baby that could nearly fit on my moms hand. Head on fingers, whole fragile little body in the palm of her hand and her limbs would just dangle. That baby wanted to live. My sister lived through the next months and years being denied proper medical treatment. So my parents reached out to the US for help. They helped. I later served to repay the service.
I cannot believe now the US is doing this to their own. Its disgusting.
After years I came to realize if the doctors treated this baby like any other she wouldve had a future. A new born baby that couldve grown well and good but the doctors decided to prioritize monetary gain over a human life. If she survived without proper care in that time imagine how she would’ve thrived adequate medical treatment. The US is going down an equally horrifying path now.
I bet if we gave terminal diseases to the pharmaceutical executives and their families, they'd figure it out real quick. The entire for- profit, privatized health care system is broken. It's disgusting how bad things have gotten and how little all the politicians that campaign on fixing the system actually do about it.
The United States of America! The most dynamic nation! And, we have all these individuals responsible for problems in supply and demand of pharma. It really is a disgusting turn of events. Does capitalism really work for all? I don’t think so.
Find the leaders of these industries and jail them. They are criminals in every way but name.
A private business has no accountability. They will run a business for one reason and one reason only. Only people care about people. Nothing will change until people do something and good luck getting everyone to agree on anything Americans don’t like each other. You would think it would be easy to get done but already half you out there disagree with me about 25% of you will give reasons why it can’t be done and rest don’t care yet because they are healthy and it don’t apply to them ….yet . when you get older you will complain about it then but it will be to late for you to do anything about there is a large population of Americans who can fix this with there voice if we want. Americans great at fixing thing when we can come together as The United State Of America
It's like reducing the meat content of a meat pie slowly over time, then returning it to normal and charging 30% more for it.
Tl;DW: It's a bit more complex than this, but the FDA has made quality such a priority that many low-margin drug companies can't compete, so they shut down, leading to shortages. Middlemen also make it hard for drug manufacturers to stay in business, which in turn leads to shortages. Remember, these are generic companies, not the ones charging an arm and a leg.
My nephew takes an orphan drug that reduces the amount of copper in his blood stream. Without this drug, he would die as he carries a genetic defect where he received a defective gene from both parents, making him have Wilson's disease. There are only two companies that make these drugs. The drug is very, very expensive. If these drugs are stopped being produced, my nephew who is a college graduate, played Big Ten Basketball for Belmont University would die very quickly. We always worry that the orphan drugs will be discontinued by the companies. His life is dependent on it. The government needs to give tax breaks for companies that create these rare drugs and give them incentives to continue to produce them.
Or, hear me out, make a public company that would make meds big pharma can't be bothered to