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Pharmaceutical giant 'plotted to destroy cancer drugs to drive prices up 4000%'[W:39]

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Surrealistik

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Pharmaceutical giant 'plotted to destroy cancer drugs to drive prices up 4000%' | The Independent

Independent - Katie Forster Health Correspondent said:
Leaked internal emails appear to show employees at one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies calling for “celebration” over price hikes of cancer drugs, an investigation has revealed.

Staff at Aspen Pharmacare reportedly plotted to destroy stocks of life-saving medicines during a price dispute with the Spanish health service in 2014.

After purchasing five different cancer drugs from British firm GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the company tried to sell the medicines in Europe for up to 40 times their previous price, reported The Times.
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Absolutely disgusting and reprehensible. I have nothing more to say on the matter beyond that such sociopathic behaviour needs to be legislated against.
 
Re: Pharmaceutical giant 'plotted to destroy cancer drugs to drive prices up 4000%'

Surrealistik said:
Pharmaceutical giant 'plotted to destroy cancer drugs to drive prices up 4000%' | The Independent




Absolutely disgusting and reprehensible. I have nothing more to say on the matter beyond that such sociopathic behaviour needs to be legislated against.
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This is why I believe healthcare should be a public good, like defense, utilities, police, or fire protection.

By it's very nature it doesn't work as a freemarket commodity.
 
Re: Pharmaceutical giant 'plotted to destroy cancer drugs to drive prices up 4000%'

Chomsky said:
This is why I believe healthcare should be a public good, like defense, utilities, police, or fire protection.

By it's very nature it doesn't work as a freemarket commodity.
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Right, because the government is so much more efficient and responsible for it's own actions.
 
Re: Pharmaceutical giant 'plotted to destroy cancer drugs to drive prices up 4000%'

Chomsky said:
This is why I believe healthcare should be a public good, like defense, utilities, police, or fire protection.

By it's very nature it doesn't work as a freemarket commodity.
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What does that mean in this context? Usually stories about drug price hikes are in the United States and the reaction is that if we only had single-payer those sorts of things wouldn't happen.

But this is a South African company that bought patents from a British company and hiked prices in European countries that already have national health systems. So are you just saying that all drug research, development, and manufacturing should be done directly by a government?
 
Re: Pharmaceutical giant 'plotted to destroy cancer drugs to drive prices up 4000%'

Chomsky said:
This is why I believe healthcare should be a public good, like defense, utilities, police, or fire protection.

By it's very nature it doesn't work as a freemarket commodity.
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Have to respectfully disagree. You can't forget the forget the innovation aspect of health care. Companies spend a ton to get a drug through the approval proceess. I would agree that th bad actors have to be dealt with and put out of business. Not sure we want to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
 
Re: Pharmaceutical giant 'plotted to destroy cancer drugs to drive prices up 4000%'

Greenbeard said:
What does that mean in this context? Usually stories about drug price hikes are in the United States and the reaction is that if we only had single-payer those sorts of things wouldn't happen.

But this is a South African company that bought patents from a British company and hiked prices in European countries that already have national health systems. So are you just saying that all drug research, development, and manufacturing should be done directly by a government?
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Mind that the chapter on this is not yet closed: these governments are looking towards anti-trust laws and other legislative/legal remedies for these price hikes; that would never happen in America where the government ridiculously can't even negotiate prices.
 
Re: Pharmaceutical giant 'plotted to destroy cancer drugs to drive prices up 4000%'

apdst said:
Right, because the government is so much more efficient and responsible for it's own actions.
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You're arguing in favor of companies that want to make millions off treatment vs potential cures etc.

Do you not have an original thought of your own or are you making millions from these companies?

I'm guessing not the latter so why defend them? It's ok to pivot now and again.
 
Re: Pharmaceutical giant 'plotted to destroy cancer drugs to drive prices up 4000%'

Surrealistik said:
Pharmaceutical giant 'plotted to destroy cancer drugs to drive prices up 4000%' | The Independent




Absolutely disgusting and reprehensible. I have nothing more to say on the matter beyond that such sociopathic behaviour needs to be legislated against.
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20% of all prescriptions now go unfilled. Seniors whose income is above the threshold of Medicaid, are getting hammered. Part D is a sham.

I work with seniors every day. Insulin often costs hundreds. Imagine earning 1500 a month and having to pay 800 a month for insulin.
 
Re: Pharmaceutical giant 'plotted to destroy cancer drugs to drive prices up 4000%'

Surrealistik said:
Pharmaceutical giant 'plotted to destroy cancer drugs to drive prices up 4000%' | The Independent




Absolutely disgusting and reprehensible. I have nothing more to say on the matter beyond that such sociopathic behaviour needs to be legislated against.
Click to expand...

Whoever had that idea read the Grapes of Wrath in high school and said, "You know what? Some day I'm going to be just like the bad guys in this book."
 
Re: Pharmaceutical giant 'plotted to destroy cancer drugs to drive prices up 4000%'

Higgins86 said:
You're arguing in favor of companies that want to make millions off treatment vs potential cures etc.

Do you not have an original thought of your own or are you making millions from these companies?

I'm guessing not the latter so why defend them? It's ok to pivot now and again.
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You can't seriously want drug companies to be run by the government.
 
Re: Pharmaceutical giant 'plotted to destroy cancer drugs to drive prices up 4000%'

apdst said:
You can't seriously want drug companies to be run by the government.
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The OP didn't say that though. He was disgusted by the actions of certain alleged actions by drug companies.

Even if you dont want drug companies run by the government surely you agree that they should be made accountable? Making money from our suffering isn't something anyone can support, especially a man like yourself who has served his country for the greater good.
 
Re: Pharmaceutical giant 'plotted to destroy cancer drugs to drive prices up 4000%'

Higgins86 said:
The OP didn't say that though. He was disgusted by the actions of certain alleged actions by drug companies.
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I wasn't addressing the OP. I was addressing post #2 that said,

Chomsky said:
This is why I believe healthcare should be a public good, like defense, utilities, police, or fire protection.

By it's very nature it doesn't work as a freemarket commodity.
Click to expand...

Even if you dont want drug companies run by the government surely you agree that they should be made accountable? Making money from our suffering isn't something anyone can support, especially a man like yourself who has served his country for the greater good.
Click to expand...

Of course I want accountability, hence the reason I don't want them run by the government. Do you seriously want the same people who run The Department of Veteran's Affairs to run the pharmaceutical industry?

I can't believe I actually had to explain this to you.
 
Re: Pharmaceutical giant 'plotted to destroy cancer drugs to drive prices up 4000%'

Chomsky said:
This is why I believe healthcare should be a public good, like defense, utilities, police, or fire protection.

By it's very nature it doesn't work as a freemarket commodity.
Click to expand...
Yeah, then we won't have to worry about any new life saving drugs, because they won't ever be developed. Problem solved. :doh
 
Re: Pharmaceutical giant 'plotted to destroy cancer drugs to drive prices up 4000%'

countryboy said:
Yeah, then we won't have to worry about any new life saving drugs, because they won't ever be developed. Problem solved. :doh
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Or, they market a, "cure", that causes more problems than it cures and the government employees who put the drug on the market shrug their shoulders and say, "oh well, better luck next time".
 
Re: Pharmaceutical giant 'plotted to destroy cancer drugs to drive prices up 4000%'

apdst said:
Or, they market a, "cure", that causes more problems than it cures and the government employees who put the drug on the market shrug their shoulders and say, "oh well, better luck next time".
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Ill never understand why some people are so eager to put bureaucrats in charge of medicine. :shock:
 
Re: Pharmaceutical giant 'plotted to destroy cancer drugs to drive prices up 4000%'

countryboy said:
Ill never understand why some people are so eager to put bureaucrats in charge of medicine. :shock:
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Socialism is for everyone but the socialists.
 
Re: Pharmaceutical giant 'plotted to destroy cancer drugs to drive prices up 4000%'

Surrealistik said:
Mind that the chapter on this is not yet closed: these governments are looking towards anti-trust laws and other legislative/legal remedies for these price hikes; that would never happen in America where the government ridiculously can't even negotiate prices.
Click to expand...

Maybe they'll pass a law. Maybe we'll pass a law!

The trick is determining what that law should be. Regardless, this episode makes the point pretty clearly that merely having a single-payer or national health system is not sufficient by itself to prevent bad behavior by drug companies.
 
Re: Pharmaceutical giant 'plotted to destroy cancer drugs to drive prices up 4000%'

cardinal said:
whoever had that idea read the grapes of wrath in high school and said, "you know what? Some day i'm going to be just like the bad guys in this book."
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ftmfw!
 
Re: Pharmaceutical giant 'plotted to destroy cancer drugs to drive prices up 4000%'

apdst said:
Right, because the government is so much more efficient and responsible for it's own actions.
Click to expand...

Which is why you want to privatize the military, right?
 
Re: Pharmaceutical giant 'plotted to destroy cancer drugs to drive prices up 4000%'

countryboy said:
Ill never understand why some people are so eager to put bureaucrats in charge of medicine. :shock:
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Bureaucrats are already in charge of medicine.

Can a free market exist without real choice and competition?
 
Re: Pharmaceutical giant 'plotted to destroy cancer drugs to drive prices up 4000%'

apdst said:
Socialism is for everyone but the socialists.
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That doesn't make any sense at all. I advocate universal healthcare, so I wouldn't get universal healthcare?
 
Re: Pharmaceutical giant 'plotted to destroy cancer drugs to drive prices up 4000%'

Greenbeard said:
Maybe they'll pass a law. Maybe we'll pass a law!

The trick is determining what that law should be. Regardless, this episode makes the point pretty clearly that merely having a single-payer or national health system is not sufficient by itself to prevent bad behavior by drug companies.
Click to expand...

Two things that's true of these governments and their singlepayer context:

#1: There are existing laws that are being used by them to extract concessions and combat these horrid practices; anti-trust laws that encompass pharmaceuticals and y'know basic stuff like the ability to negotiate the price of those drugs in the first place unlike in the States.

#2: The political will to pass additional laws and legislative solutions as needed actually exists (and in the States, barring people like Bernie and his progressives, such political will probably won't ever emerge due to the stranglehold influence of private money and lobbyists over the mainstream/establishment of both Dems and Republicans, just look at that Dem big pharma shill Cory Booker, nevermind passing UHC). So no, we won't pass a law; not anytime soon, and even if we do, they'll still be miles ahead of us, and their progress will be both faster and more dramatic.

While legislation combating abusive/monopolistic and anti-competitive practices, and the political will to draft and enforce it isn't inherently a function of singlepayer/UHC, it is directly descended from them out of necessity and prudence, and in any well-conceived singlepayer/UHC model, is an invaluable and required component of the overall healthcare system; for example, it would be insanity to set up such a structure without government having the ability to negotiate the price of drugs and medical supplies, as is the case in the States. In otherwords, legislation against abuse is very strongly correlated with and related to UHC, and is typically prompted by it. Government as the primary provider and underwriter of healthcare is evidently much more likely to guard against rent seeking, ransoming behavior: what they consider an outrageous abomination, we consider business as usual outside of the occasional controversial douche/instance like Shkreli or the Mylan epipen fiasco.
 
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Re: Pharmaceutical giant 'plotted to destroy cancer drugs to drive prices up 4000%'

Deuce said:
That doesn't make any sense at all. I advocate universal healthcare, so I wouldn't get universal healthcare?
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You expect to be one of the folks that doesn't get screwed. It'll be great...for you.
 
Re: Pharmaceutical giant 'plotted to destroy cancer drugs to drive prices up 4000%'

Deuce said:
Which is why you want to privatize the military, right?
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Is every American citizen forced serve in the military?
 
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