Last evening I watched a special report from Tom Brokaw about the high prices of brand name drugs in the US. I kept thinking, thank God I'm healthy. The drug companies are reaping huge amounts of profit from US citizens. On the surface, it's a capitalist society so where is the problem? That question along with a smarmy attitude was projected by some of the industry people interviewed. I think it's different in this circumstance as people often aren't given a choice. Why? Because the companies make superfluous small changes to existing drugs and re-patenting them over and over creating a very effective monopoly. The industry only talks about huge amounts of research dollars it spends (prove it) yet the US Government annually spends Billions of tax payers dollars on drug research which directly benefits the drug manufacturers. The drug companies need to change their ways and bring the retail prices down. All it will take is one company to turn this around. That company will gain the moral high ground and subsequent increased market share that goes with it.
I found another report on high prescription drug prices in the US here.
The AARP is joining a law suit against drug manufacturers saying the companies kept prices artificially high and thwarted competition from lower-priced generic drugs in violation of federal antitrust laws. If it turns out that in the US there is a drug manufacturing and distribution cartel then they deserve to be punished. Not the companies, the people who run the companies need the punishment. Read the story.
 6:20:56 AM Google It! comment
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