How drug companies make you buy more medicine than you need
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- Опубліковано 17 жов 2017
- They make eye drops too big -- and make you pay for the waste.
This is our first installment in our collaboration with ProPublica. Check out the full piece at www.propublica.org/article/dr... for their in-depth reporting, and stay tuned for more stories in this collaboration!
Correction: At 2:17 the graph should read "Total US Spending" and not "US government spending."
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America's biggest mistake is not treating people as patients, but as customers....
@X Æ A-12 im not American
It all comes down to one word; lobbying (legalized corruption).
This happens in Europe with eyedrops too.
Americans will drown themselves in their own greedy
@@gs-nq6mw Not just amaricans. Everyone will. It happens in other places but there is more awareness in the US.
How drug companies are even worse than you thought*
ya if this was true the drug companies could just do the recommended way and charge the same.
you do know that... if the drops were smaller, less would be wasted and each bottle would last longer, meaning less bottles sold and lower revenue... right?
how some people are even dumber than you thought*
Gregory Samuel Teo Oh no, poor drug companies! Now the CEO’s son will never get his own IMAX theater!
“How drug companies are little different than sketchy street drug dealers”
This is wai me antivaxx smh dugs is bed
Vox needs to add a “so what can we do about it” portion
problem is we can't really do much
get the trump out first of all
@@alexbaka6833 Start off with fixing your so-called democracy and give yourself a real one.
@@Pro09video well if you assume I'm from the USA you're wrong
@@alexbaka6833 So when you write "we", who are you referring to?
My mum went for her chemo one day. Her doctor refused to put her on a certain infusion because it was too expensive. The patient before her had a different condition requiring the more expensive chemo however they didn't turn up to their appointment. As the drug had already been prepared the only thing they could do was physically pour a £5000 infusion down the drain. Not really relevant to this video but an example of the waste that goes on in some hospitals.
Aye yai yai that's awful!
iona I mean I can see if using different infusions could hurt the results.
The cheapest eyedrop product in China is around 35cent 8ml.
My girlfriend had a lymphoma cancer and had to go through brentuximab medicine after chemos were inefficient. Each bottle was around 3k USD, we had to use 2 everytime even if we only used a bit of the second one....
Just like the way restaurants are not allowed to give excess food to the homeless, they have to throw it away and lock the dumpster.
Startup idea:3D print specialised caps to fit to most popular eye drops and make them microdrops.
genius
Veteran Drunkard someone has done this actually
Okay but is the material safe to make contact with the drug?
A startup called iDropr is working on this!!
@@blooptidoop their SquareSpace website is expired... Not a good look!
Jokes on you big pharma, I’ve learned how to use just the right amount of pressure to get a half a drop
THE US IS NOT THE WORLD.
@FBI This man is to powerful y'all need to come get him.
@@JohnMorris-ge6hq umm i think it is
bruh what kind of hydraulic press do you use? mine just squirt out the entire bottle
Manda Anne 😂😁
The waste could have saved another person smh 😐
Smh my head
smh my head shake my head
Smh my head that smh while smh my head because I smh while my head was smh my head.
saving people means overpopulation too. There's no win-win here.
@@s_ame1135 so u prefer people dying???
The human heart is terribly selfish
Demilade Olaleye Ahem...it’s the brain, it’s all in the brain about selfishness and process of thought. The heart does little other than pump blood through circulations. Just so you know which is the right organ to blame next time.
STELLAR! "ughgh well acually.." *adjusts glasses*
Nope
The human brain is selfish, your is as well.
No one is an altruist, get over it.
Demilade Olaleye yeah, especially mine. Dumb high blood pressure! Fix it dumb heart >_
STELLAR! Wow you're so smart you don't know figures of speech.
Someone should make a smaller detachable nozzle that could fit over the average eyedrop bottle in order to minimise waste and maximise the efficiency of every single drop.
Brilliant idea! Get to work on it ASAP, there's money to be made there.
That was my exact thought.
I’m not sure, but I’m pretty sure It could come out of a syringe and the drop would still be too large. For physical reasons like surface tension.
This was a dumb way to start a video on an interesting topic.
And I’m sure Vox would advocate spending millions in research to create special hydrophobic coatings for these dispensers. And they would probably believe that that was preventing waste somehow.
I'm confused about your comment, because in the video, they actually did create a smaller nozzle that delivered a smaller drop. No physical surface tension barriers got in the way. It just wasn't a profitable idea for the company to make that 's why it's not currently in production. Even the company that did the study doesn't want to talk about it anymore.
My eyes watered at the beginning of the video
Michael Billie
boy shut yo sensitive ass up
Lol I'm sorry, that was bad
BRUH ME TOO😭😭😭
I thought i was the only one
Michael Billig f
Healthcare should be about helping human beings. Treating and curing diseases. Not running after money and hoping you will get hurt.
That's what american health care system is
That’s what it’s like for most of the developed world, except one particular country...
@@PatheticTV no that’s what it’s like for most non developed country’s in most of the 1st world country’s in Europe we have Free Healthcare
@@Peach-ys5wp that's literally what he said. The main commenter said "this is what healthcare should be" the other guy said "it is like that for all 1st world countries except america"
Eye drops saving stoner lives since
Qufox right dude I've had the same rhotos for 2 years
123456bmx - mines usually last me 2 months :)
K E V I N A T O R it sure is comforting to know theres still good people on the internet. Hence darude sandstorm
Qufox smoke weeeeeed everyday! Lol
I was just searching for such comment 😂
Money rules this evil world of ours.
James Bone it also builds it.
James Bone nah, just North America. Other countries have free healthcare
Welcome to capitalism! Even free healthcare countries have to pay for some medicines ...
Money is just a token. What rules this evil world is our recognition of ownership of capital.
James Bone no human greed does lawl
As a Brit (Londoner specifically), the US Healthcare system is always fascinating to me because it's just so different, as I imagine it is for a lot of countries also with universal healthcare. For once however, wasted and overprescribed medicine is an important shared issue for us as well.
Who describes there nationality as the city they are from.
nah, england's my city. (*their)
Would make more sense to describe yourself as British when talking about health care or do Londoners get health care that the rest of us don't know about?
Guys everyone knows where London is so I thought I'd just say where exactly I'm from in case people elsewhere in the UK don't have the same coverage we do in the city.
Maelyne Coggins It's not that deep
It's easier to put in eye drops if you just:
1. Close your eyes
2. Put a drop of the eye drop solution in the corner of your eye
3. Open your eyes and tilt you head the opposite direction of which the drop was placed
4. Blink
Works every time
By the corner of the eye, I assume you mean the corner close to the nose? Isn't that the very place where tears drain out from?
i think they worry about contamination with the vial making contact with the skin and reabsorbing exposed drops.
It's easier because it's the right way to do it. This also explains why there's always an excess amount per drop.
@@itsallgoodtodayok That's the reason why eyedrops shouldn't be shared with someone else and why they have a very short expiration date ;)
I came to write the same exact thing. Works like a charm 😁
"People are dying and these drugs are the key to help them. Let's capitalize on them!"
Vox answering the questions we all had on our mind
Asking the questions, or addressing the problems. You can't ask a problem.
No,It is scientifically proven that you can in fact ask a problem
I'm curious: how do you ask a problem?
Ask a problem??? it says answering the questions
sarcasm
noun
the use of irony to mock or convey contempt.
"she didn't like the note of sarcasm in his voice"
This makes me so angry these billionaire companies only care about profit instead of those who are in desperate need who pay $1000's for some of it to be WASTED!
Ain't the American dream grand!
You probably wouldn’t have these drugs at all if the people who made/distributed them didn’t get paid (heavily). You cannot have it both ways.
It is a business in a capitalist society, what do you expect? These billionaire companies wouldn't be billionaires if they did what you think.
Z If you look up the 10-k reports from these companies you can see their gross income is incredibly high compared to the costs put back into R&D. They aren't putting all the money back into research. Most of it is going into people's pockets.
purplegill10 Yeah, but that’s the benefit of making/selling a highly demanded product. If the people who run the business can’t go home “happy” (well-paid) because they put all their profits back into the company, they wouldn’t have much of an incentive to continue running it. They aren’t a non-profit company.
I mean, I'm surprised, but at the same time I'm really not surprised.
Please normalize the volume in your videos. The levels are all over the place
@Deja Boo well youtube comments are created for you guessed it comments, atleast this is something the editors would watch out for in the future
@Deja Boo feed back is always good in order to try and improve video quality. Constructive criticism and tips are a good thing for people who actually try to be presentable or become a better version of whatever they are.
It is bad. I agree. Or worse videos that have audio only on the left or right channel. I have a mono button on my phone but Jesus Christ I should not have too.
@Deja Boo Huh? What is wrong with the comment. So you are only allowed to comment if it is positive? Or it meets your approval?
How Vox makes you spend more time on youtube than you need.
Anurag Arya 😂😂👍🏾
Anurag Arya Facts.
Anurag Arya education is worth it.
Actually, UA-cam's algorithm makes every channel make every user spend more time on UA-cam than you need. Longer videos that increase watch time are prioritized, so if you can stretch out a concise 6-minute video into a slow, padded 10-minute video, you will be rewarded. Instead of high quality, short videos, you get long videos that are just good enough to keep you from clicking away.
I watch while on break time at work, while eating lunch. So time not wasted.
No offense America, I love you, but you are really skilled in the art of creating diseases through overconsumption and creating even more problem with the pharmaceutical industry that is supposed to cured those diseases.
Sincerely yours,
Your loving little sister that is following the same path,
Europe.
Quick Fix your grammar gave me cancer (jk)
Accurate
Ivan Koh 👎👎👎👎
Are... Are you seriously implying Glaucoma isn't real?
They aren’t creating diseases but ok
Pro tip!
1) With your eyes closed, hold the dropper as close as you can to the corner of your eye nearest your nose and tear gland without touching (to prevent infection!)
2) Drop the liquid on the very corner of your eye (again, by the tear ducts)
3) Open your eye and the drops smoothly spreads across your eye in a non-frightening, painless fashion- like a tear.
I used to hate eye drops until I found out about this, now I do it every time with 0 issues. Spread the word! :)
Does it actually cost anywhere near $5000 to manufacture that vial of cancer drug? Or does it cost $20 to manufacture and the other $4980 is to recover R&D costs and make a profit? If it’s the second case, wouldn’t they charge $4990 for a vial half the size, not $2500?
Adam Shomsky they don’t need to do that they make plenty of money
TheWaySheGoes Actually most of drug cost goes to follow FDA regulations which makes it impossible for a drug to pass safety tests without spending 11-13 billion dollars on a single drug .
@@wallawalla223 And it would be so much better to give yourself drugs that do nothing or poison you due to a lack of testing. Also, companies charge what they can, not what they need to. They don't need anywhere near 2500 dollars per vial.
Guy ultimatecyberdog what stops apple from making phones that wont do anything? Many phone companies do make such phones and u can easily buy them but u don’t . Brand value and competition is much more ethical and effective way of increasing quality and decreasing prices . Government regulations just end up making things expensive making it look like quality control .
Guy ultimatecyberdog your claim that” they don’t need 2500 dollar per vial” is founded on your lack of knowledge of medical field and economics .
Friendly reminder that *people's health should NEVER be a for-profit venture*
Good luck finding doctors, nurses and pharmaceutical companies willing to treat you
I've known people that used to say that. Two years deep in medical school does miracles changing minds about it lol
Dylan There is a difference between for-profit and nonprofit. A nonprofit organization can pay salaries but NOT dividends. I am in favor of nonprofit health. More than fair salaries can still be paid out. Dividends would no longer be a thing therefore greed is not a big factor. Salaries in a nonprofit are negotiated by a disinterested party. No more Mylan Crisis.
Derrick Ng yes and where would you raise capital if you can't raise equity through stock. Most companies raise equity through Ipos because they don't have financials for lenders like banks. Therefore they turn to the stock exchange for equity. If you are a nonprofit then you won't be able to raise capital through stock
Dylan Uhh you can literally just drive across the border to Canada to find that. Or like the majority of Europe or Rojava.
Actually the pharmaceutical companies take like 800% to 1000% profit.
So they dont care.
For example the production of a medicine of retail price 100 is 7 or 8 dollars
"Ur weakness is my business"
Same situation for contact lens solution. Excess liquid would invariably drip out of the nozzle, leading to wastage and more money spent on their products.
Drug in the title? DEMONITIZED
Demon in the title? DEMONetized
Ahmes Syahda *Demonitized
when you try to correct someone's spelling with the wrong spelling.
Gregory Samuel Teo
============> the joke
your head
Same thing/ theory is also applied on shampoo, toothpaste, creams oils and many more consumer products these guys are not innocent either😕 when first time I heard this practice i laughed but when I saw the impact on the sales sheet in was mind blowing...😲
Well then it’s different with eyedrops you can’t change the mass it allows per drop same with other stuff shampoo oils etc you make your own choice on the ammount you use it’s independant with healthcare it’s different
@okay then they're still items used daily.
Me:......
Guy in eye commercial: "WoooOOow"
I spent nearly a year in Mexico and I was really astonished to see that they sell you in smaller quantities than the US. You basically pay by the dosage. So you can’t just go buy a big jar of pain killers you either buy the dose or you can purchase significantly smaller package of about 6 pills
This is why we let tax-payers pay for medicine for chronic conditions in Norway. State will not advocate such swindles.
Det er noget du tror.
Why are we even talking about this? Healthcare is insanely terrible in America and the only people who can truly fix it benefit directly from those companies. They have literally no incentive to fix it. Healthcare will never be fixed here.
Yep. Thanks Ayn Rand & her followers. Irg!
Regardless of whether there's a hope for regular Americans to institute change in the healthcare system, this video at least helps make us be more aware of what's going on. For example, I didn't realize about the size of the eye drops, so now I'm better informed. That makes it worth it if nothing else.
Michael Ireland I will take our Healthcare system over the one in one in Europe or Canada they have horrible systems
Healthcare is corrupt there is no perfect healthcare system in no country a good one would takes companies and the goverment more money but yes healthcare in europe is better then that in america but it matter wich parts of europe for example the netherlands and many other wealthy countries corruptness is everywhere in this world but in america it’s based on it
Best youtube channel for news, and information on topics.
My eyes are watering so much at the beginning!
I thought medicine is like software. Developing new product costs a lot of money, but manufacturing it doesn't.
miiiikku Not really. The ingredients have expensive ingredients and expensive manufacturing processes. Drugs especially more expensive because there’s the focus on sterilisation (so that you’re not pouring bacteria to “relieve” an infected eye). Depending on the drug, manufacturing costs can be quite high (though not as high as their selling price; hence the massive profit margin)
@@hhhfghhh
Not really, they are also paying the high incentive worker's they work on their company, such as biochemists, oncologists geneticist and so on.
My god WHY IS THERE LITTLE OR NO REGULATION on these industries America?!
GOD BLESS AMERICA!
Because BIG government gets kickbacks from BIG pharmaceuticals
In short, neoliberalism.
Because in US, they allow these industries to pay the Congress millions of dollars to write legislation that favor these industries, which in turn screw the public. Basically the representatives are bought by the industries, so they will not install any regulation that will damage profits of their paymasters.
Because FREEDOM.
America is land of the free! More freedom! Less regulation! Everybody wins!! Yeay!
best info channel that tackles very serious problems... keep it up
heck the FDA should work with the EPA to look into wasteful packaging and procedures its not about lowering cost its about saving the environment from behaviors from the throwaway economy
Ah man, who do you think runs the FDA ??
How do we fix this problem?
We can't.
Literally regulation that's it
Demand for better regulations. Instead of crying about Pro life or Pro choice; make sure your representative has his priority right.
The eye drop one could be fixed pretty easily by getting people to buy a third party bottle and just transferring the drops into the more efficient bottle.
Find an eye dropper with the correct sized hole and keep that, sterilize it and re-use it by pouring your regular medication into the empty bottle. Come on! I'm a genius! 🙂
I just got through using eye drops and then this video pops up in my feed.
love your investigating videos of different kind problems, that's a real Journalism here thank you.
The content you put on here must reach millions!
As an epileptic who currently pays about 1,000 for treatment a month WITH insurance yet I still have seizures, I am heartbroken. I wish we had universal healthcare so we the people could have a true say in regulating the cost and waste culture that is detrimental to our system.
God bless America.
I hope you're doing better
I always thought the larger drops were intended to “wash out” your eyes buy allowing some debris in your eyes to escape with the uncontained eye drops
Dang. thanks for this enlightening information Vox.
Watching these kind of videos makes me so more grateful that i live in a country where health care is as good as free :)
That's a cool Pokeball in the thumbnail
24 Frames Of Nick indeed
Different video
Blah Cga no it doesn't😂😂😂😂what???
24 Frames Of Nick?
24 Frames Of Nick you might need some eye drops
That is why you have welfare states! My father has cancer and his cancer drugs cost about 2000€ month but because we live in a country that has good social security and welfare he pays 14.5€/month. The high taxes of welfare state don't make me angry at all because I know how difficult life can get and without state's help we couldn't get enough money to pay for that.
Captain SpicyMeme
TAXES ARE THEFT
CAPITALISM RULES /s
Knitople we still pay taxes in the US. It's just most that money is going towards bombing other citizens instead of taking care of our own.
Captain SpicyMeme Socialist idiots like you need natural selection and your father.
Sorry, real socialist here. That is social democracy. Not socialism.
Totally Not Earth And 9 year olds like you don't need to be on the Internet, go play outside
once again, vox educating me on stuff that i didnt know i needed to know
Hmmm all the pages of this book are blank... *flicks to cover* Title: "Examples of ethical consumption under capitalism"
No. The title was List of Mister F's Braincells.
What do you advocate in place of capitalism?
ShoLKAN If communism is a better system than capitalism, then why is Cuba still a 3rd world country? Why are they shifting into a capitalist market? What happened to the Soviets? Why did Vietnam fail after winning “freedom”? Answer these legitimate questions with legitimate answers, maybe you can prove a point.
@Brianna Jones sweden is being overrun by immigrants and a bottle of wine is like 20 bucks
@@gideonkloosterman maybe thats because its a good country to live in and maybe thats because wine is an expensive artisan good that is not essential to human life
Someone needs to invent something that goes on top of eye drop bottles that sticks to the top and reduces drop size.
And the bottle would last twice as long right...except bottles shouldn't be used after 28 days after opening?
I love Vox hahahah keep spreading word and informing cause I love it
Why are you typing haha in your comment.
Some of the Content from Vox is so niche yet holds such a bigger picture. I wonder how it might to feel to work with such creative people and do some brainstorming!
They should probably do some real research too, instead of just brainstorming, because this video wasn't that well thought through
Great info! Knowledge sets us free and empower us
eye drops
drop top
Its funny how you don't here insurance companies (main clients to pharma corps.) complain about "expensive dugs". Why? Because pharmaceuticals compose of an extremely tiny portion of health care costs. Drugs are cheap.
Not when you pay out of pocket, and when most of it gets wasted because of greedy pharmaceutical companies.
Tell that to the people dying becausr they cant afford it
Love the video Vox, can you please edit the sound differently next time though? The volume difference between the narrator and experts was startling. Thanks!! Xoxo
I appreciate your videos.
As far as a micro drop applicators, sell them separately as a adapter on Amazon.
I'm not convinced that fixing the problem of the video by reducing and adapting the doses of medicine would produce much spending. Most of the price of a medicine is actually just profit and getting the R&D money back. The production cost of the excess wasted medicine is quite low compared to that.
When you buy medicine, you don't buy the molecule, you buy the healing. The price per ml is irrelevant, what is important is the price per treatment. Pharmaceutical company decide their prices based on the price of the alternative medicines (or surgeries) and by the value of the life extended/suffering reduced. They don't decide the price based on the production cost.
If there were a law that would force the pharmaceutical companies to adapt the sizing of their medicine, then the price would just increase per ml because the value of the medicine wouldn't change.
The problem that the video describes is just that the pharmaceutical industries decided to make price increases less transparent: instead of increasing the price per ml they just forced the patients to by more ml.
The real problem about the cost of medicines is more that there is no one with enough market power and motivation to push the prices down. Not the waste.
if you seriously don't think production cost factors in at all then you're a joke.
and do you not see how a law requiring appropriate sizing of medicines would cause a leftward shift in demand?
If there was a law requiring appropriate sizing of medicines, there would be a decrease in the demand of medicine on mg/ml side but not on the treatment side.
If someone pays $10k per month for his treatment, he will not suddently say that since the volume of product he buys decreases he's not ready anymore to pay $10k. He still wants treatment and so he will still pay the pharmaceutical company as much. The demand wouldn't move.
I'd even argue that it might make prices higher for some patients.
Let's imagine a tall male and a small thin woman that have the same illness. The male has to take a dose twice bigger than the woman. Actually the company sells only a dose that the male can take so the woman has to waste half of the product every time.
But for both of them the effect of the medicine is the same, it extends the life for the same length and reduce as much suffering. The value of this medicine for these two is exactly the same and so they should pay the same price, right? Now with the current system, it's what happens.
If you want to regulate the sizings, the pharma company has two choices: either give a 50% discount to the woman or to double the price for the man. It's really possible that the pharmaceutical company would choose to double the price for the man.
RogerAckroid
If companies didn't produce more treatments of medicines in response to requiring appropriate sizing, they would have reduced profits due to their reduced production changing their location on the SRATC curve, so any rational utility maximizing firm would increase production proportionally until marginal revenue = 0
They produce less and they increase their price per unit to match the price that their customers have shown that they were willing to pay. How can their profits decrease?
For every great Vox video there's 5 just like this one
I love Vox something that you would think is a dumb story. When you sit down and think about it you will say hey they are right I never thought about that. I've wasted some many i drops trying to get one damn drop in my eye. Vox is so on point with their stories.
Pro Publica is awesome. Hope they'll see increased support from this collaboration.
The pharma industry is why I'm in support of some government regulation despite being a libertarian conservative.
1:27 that looks cool! It has an aim guide so you don't miss! How considerate of them, we don't have that in Indonesia :)
I work in a pharmacy and it truly astonishes me how many patients literally waste medication very regularly. And that’s just at one retail pharmacy when there is literally pharmacies down the road from each other.
Who's wasting meds? The video is about drug companies making the medicine like that...
My family suffers from tons of glaucoma- those drops are not cheap
That's why you don't do drugs kids.
dont waste that weed
i need my eye drop fix fam
When I aim correctly and that drop drips right into my eye, it filled my eye perfectly and feels wonderful. Vox, quit trying to enrage people by making up problems that don’t exist.
Shalom Bernstein Plain white man can't see past privilege
Try getting cancer in America
Damn thus channel is so good!!
Thus is not only in America. In my country, many drugs used for chronic conditions have 28 tablets per box. This means that if you take them once a day, you need 14 boxes per year and this leaves you with 27 wasted tablets per year, almost one full wasted box. Also, since counting pills is difficult in practical terms, it is quite often that a doctor prescribes more than one excessive box per year.
NatK1981 you act like those pills you have to take from a new box don’t roll over into the next month or year, there’s literally no waste there unless you switch medicines. Not to mention, it’s that way because it’s a four week course of treatment, not a month. It wouldn’t make sense to market things to the month since every month doesn’t have the same amount of days.
For the cancer drugs can’t a reusable container be developed to poor out the leftovers ? Like a Tupperware but designed for certain type of drugs ?
And for the eye drops, people using them daily could purchase a different nozzle with the smaller diameter that adapts to the one they buy ?!
Yes!! The problem is that they don't want to apply that solutions because that means a loss of money, that's mental 😓😞
No, because once you open those types of medications it's no longer sterile. So basically you're options are deal with the waste that's not actually costing you extra(because most medication costs aren't based on quantity), or subject people to life threatening infections due to recycling medications. Infusion medications are packaged sterile, and sterilized again before use. Pouring a medication into a "special" container increases the risk of infection dramatically. And even if packaged in some way that makes it reusable it still wouldn't be reusable across multiple patients. Because multiple use/reusable packaged meds still aren't meant to be shared. And considering the common mistakes in proper handling by medical professionals nationwide, it really isn't worth the risk.
I love you Vox!
This works for a lot of products we use on a daily bases. Check how much soap or toothpaste you get for just one use. They widend the toothpaste hole so you would use more. same for razorblades and a lot of other stuff.
2:18 Makes me think of some video made by someone, about diagrams that are not to scale.
Whom was it made by..?
**ahem**
I feel like we need a company that will focus on reducing medicine waste and because of that, doctors will support that company instead of others so other companies need to follow their steps or lose out in potential customers
Lumigan eye drop bottle releases the perfect sized drop not more not less just perfect. It looks just like the micro droplet cap that you showed.
One way to reduce eye drop waste is to modify application method. Dropping medicine from a height above your head into your eye causes splashing. Instead, using a mirror to help guide you, drag the thin skin under the lower eye lid outwards. This will naturally create a fold in the lower eye lid that has enough space to house an eye drop. Tip the bottle and drop medicine into this “cup” and let the tear film of the lower eye lid distribute the eye drop by blinking.
The slogan of the usa "we will save you unless it hurts our profits"
I hate that... I guess I'll be allowed to live unless I get sick
here is a good idea make a cap that can go on any eye drop bottle that is a micro drop.
That would probably have hygene issues
Checkout iDropr - It's a startup tackling this issue!
Eye drops have to be sterile, that’s why you shouldn’t touch the dropper to your eye and if you do they suggest you dispose of the bottle
I use the Optrex brand eye drops. I refill the smaller bottle (around $5, 10ml) with the larger eye wash version (around $14, 300ml), which has the same ingredients according to the UK site, using a disposable syringe.
Same goes with suture/suture removal kits where at times just a couple of the tools are required, but once the kit is open, the remaining tools/gauze is thrown out.
In Europe eyedrops with naphazoline (allergies) cost around $2/10ml. Glaucoma eyedrops cost not more than $20/10ml :)
First of all ml is milliliters, milligrams is a unit of mass. Second, have you ever heard of Kilometers per Hour? You travel X km every hour. In the aforementioned case, Naphazoline costs $2 for 10ml. Glaucoma medication costs $20 for 10ml.
Oh well. $2/10ml ($ = Dollars) $2 for 10ml (bottle) = $0.2/ml (20cents/ml). Glaucoma eyedrops would be $2/ml
Juan Martín Ferreira get schooled
lol, a fraction does not have to have 1 as the denominator
@@martinjoster3282 You're the troll here , or you're just too dumb to understand simple language
Typical American capitalism.
Typical capitalism. *Soviet anthem starts playing*
The problem is actually not capitalism, but loss of democracy in US.
Go to Venezuela then, they have communist dictatorship. I hear its working out well for them.
Ketan Jain Come to China, they have socialism and you don’t need to pay for overpriced drugs, because they don’t even have the drugs.
Actually, companies can be this wasteful because of the heavily regulated health insurance companies. If the government could get out of the way people could demand cheaper medicines and the market will have to adapt.
Lol don't spread dumb stuff on the internet, people will believe you.
This is so sad that these companies exploit patients in this way. Despite all of the ignorant and destructive content on the internet videos like this prove that good can come through spreading truthful information and letting the facts drive change.
making microdrop caps with narrow nozzles that fit onto medicine bottles and deliver just the right quantity of medicine would be a good startup idea, that can then scale up to making self adjusted syringes/vials and other equipment.
I've always hated eye drops...
Mostly because I blink a lot after using them. It's hard to keep my eye open.
Two Like Da Numba you may need eyedrops for that burn
Tbh if I moved to the US I would get health care insurance.
Skingott Health care insurance is not enough
a practical tip for the opening example of eyedrops is to pull out your lower lid and put it in that way. it won't fix the drug companies but it can make your eye drops experience more bearable.
This is applicable to lot of items sold in USA. Food waste mainly.
Why the size of the drops are larger than needed: "The drop sizes and dropper designs are intended to increase the likelihood that a patient will receive the indicated dose. Margin of safety for those who have difficulty accurately instilling drops due to age, quality of vision, and condition affecting steadiness of the patient's hand like arthritis, stroke, or hand tremor." The consequence of going blind from not getting enough medication (i.e glaucoma) outweighs the risk of getting a little extra eyedrop.
So make two different bottles. One for people with shaky hands, and one for everyone else.
Cant those shaky hand glaucoma dudes just use two drops cause THEY'RE the minority?
As a Canadian I can't believe how cruel US health care is
I’m pretty handy with an eye dropper. I can typically get about a half a drop into my eye, and have little to no runoff by applying it to the inside corner and letting it release by touching the drop near the tear duct rather than dropping a whole drop from a distance. Seems to work alright.
As someone who has glaucoma and uses 3 different eye drops this hurts. Not to mention the hard journey of finding a doctor you trust and isn't just giving you medicine after medicine...
I’m wondering what we can do that would realistically make a difference because I can complain to government officials or complain online, but these companies are so rich and have too much influence that my efforts would be wasted. Is there anything we can actually do to solve these problems?
The fox needs to be removed from its management position in the henhouse.
multi use vials can cause problems too.. bad cleanliness practices can mean it causes infections for many people. it also means the bottle must be kept at the right temperatures otherwise the entire batch will spoil after it's taken out then forgotten to be put back, etc..
My eyes are watering up