RELIEF FOR THE COMMON
MAN: HIGH PRICED DRUGS TO BECOME AFFORDABLE
"The patent
cliff is over. That’s great for large pharma, but that also means the
opportunities theoretically have dried up for generics."
Kim Vukhac, Crédit
Agricole.
For
the past fifty years or more, dispassionate and money hungry manufacturers of drugs
for life-threatening diseases have fleeced the needy by charging up to and over
50 times the actual cost of making that drug. Their greedy days are about to
end soon, as 2012 has seen landmark decisions in permitting registered
pharmaceutical companies to produce and sell those drugs at their actual market
price plus a fair margin. The volume of products sold to the needy will provide
them their profit.
Legally
speaking, a generic drug must replicate the same constituents as the original
drug. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), “generic drugs
are identical or within an acceptable bioequivalent range to the brand-name
counterpart with respect to pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties. By
extension, therefore, generics are considered (by the FDA) identical in dose,
strength, route of administration, safety, efficacy, and intended use.” In all
cases, generic products are available to the public at large when the patent expires.
In such a case, market competition leads to much lower prices for both the high-priced
exclusive branded product and the generic forms.
Consider
the case of Statins. Cardiac specialists were enticed into recommending Statins
to supposedly regulate the bad Cholesterol in a patient’s cardio-vascular
system. The gullible proletariat ended up paying hard earned money that could
be considered extortion. Today, many Cardiologists do not prescribe Statins,
perhaps 10 mg a day. This contrast is not obvious in terms of US$. In India,
the price has dropped from Rs. 56/- a pill to Rs. 2.40/- Chemotherapy is now
within reach of the common man.
Things
can only improve with time. Bye, shyster!
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