Sad story...but all too common with the idiots who attack companies putting out drugs as being "greedy" and having "blood on their hands." These numerous drugs together cost billions to develop and then you have the cost to get new medicines into the market (ANY market), yet millions will die of the disease, because of these protests based on ignorance and hate for the way the real world works. These people have no solution other than to attack the drug companies...demanding, I assume, that drug companies find some magical way to make R&D and market introduction free (it costs on average of $800 million and 15 years to get any drug to market), and just give out their new medicines for free to anyone who needs it. These drug companies wouldn't be able to stay in business, and if no drug companies were in business NO NEW DRUGS will be introduced! Why the protesters don't realize this, I've idea, but it seems that most of them are clueless to the realities of this situation.
In the end, people will live in ignorance and continue to lamely attack the drug companies, and millions will continue to die because the attacks on the drug makers will put an end to all new drug development for the disease. Then, everybody loses- the drug companies, the hippies, and the disease inflicted.
Do you have any idea the price-gouging drug suppliers practice? Markups of 300, 400%. This is medicine, not stocks and bonds.
its a business. drug companies dont spend billions a yr to research and develop new drugs out of kindness, they to do it so they can get their drugs on the market, sell them, and make a profit. when you attack drug companies like this, they stop making certain medicines because the hassle isnt worth it. then you have millions who die because they dont want the hassle, extra costs, attacks, etc.
drugs arent that expensive when you consider the hundreds of billions spent by each drug company to develop the drugs, get them to market, etc. plus, now with ridiculously high standards from the FDA that would make many drugs from the past impossible to market today- it becomes even tougher and more cost ineffective to develop and market drugs.
no kind hearted soul is going to establish his own drug company, spend billions to create new medicines, then give it away for free. thats a place called fantasyland, and it doesnt exist.
Josh, you're simplifying the protester's argument too much. Sure, a profit can be made, but when you're dealing with medicine, a business shouldn't expect the same types of profits as, say, Lexus. This is one of those issues where I always find it ironic that so-called Christians come down not on the side of cheaper medicine (cheaper, not free), but on the side of immense profit. And believe me, the profits are immense.
Of course, these are moot points when drugs are imported from Canada, a policy Bush doesn't allow. I would like to know your opinion on cheaper drugs from Canada: should that be an available option?