(02-05-2019, 09:01 PM)flsprtsgod Wrote:

(02-05-2019, 08:22 PM)mikesez Wrote: It's true that it takes a lot of money in a lot of time to bring a drug to market.
And it's true that the per-unit cost has to defray that expense.
But this means that the same drug should get less expensive over time, as more and more of its initial cost has been defrayed.
For instance, what the heck is going on with humalog insulin?

Newer and different innovations in insulin. Profit has been flat for 20 years.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk...471f77f471

If the old still works then why do patients demand it? Because most insured patients dont pay for it, ie there's little price pain for most users.

we can't know for sure exactly what profit they make from selling that specific drug.
The point is that the price should be going down as the technology gets older and more of the initial investment and development is paid off.
But that's not how it actually works, because these firms don't actually compete with each other, and we can't actually walk away from them.

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