(07-22-2018, 10:35 PM)flsprtsgod Wrote:

(07-22-2018, 07:37 PM)mikesez Wrote: That sounds true, but what does it have to do with my point.  Sure, they are spending a lot on R&D! They are spending more on buybacks.  They're just temporarily boosting their stock price.

So your point is that a Corporation isn't supposed to make money? Or that they are doing a good job of both bringing new products to the market AND earning profits for their shareholders? What exactly is your point, that we in America are still shouldering the majority of the costs for all the incredible drugs that are saving and improving lives all around the globe, and, just like with NATO, everyone else is shirking their "fair share"? Because if that last one is your point it's really the only one that makes any kind of sense.

My point is they'd still make enough money to maintain their R&D even if our country squeezed their margins.  Profits and buybacks aren't wrong, per se.  I'm a capitalist.  If the profit and margin came to be from voluntary exchange between competitive individual actors, it's very good! But that's not the case with big Pharma. Even if you decided to deconstruct Medicare so that people would all be free agents shopping for prescription medication, you still have the problem that most of the customers would pay any price to save their lives.
So, where typical means of setting prices fail, other means must be found.

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