Global health agencies announced Wednesday that generic versions of a groundbreaking injectable drug to prevent HIV will be made available from 2027 at around $40 a year in more than 100 low and middle-income…
speaking as a indian - the reason that this is possible because we kinda ignore medical patents and formulations. (using kinda because i do not know the exact wording in law and the cooldown period).
It should also tell you about the cost of ingredients and manufacturing vs the costs you pay for “rnd for big companies” (who often build upon work done by universities which often are run by public fundiing)
But thanks to RFK and Trump, there will be no more drugs like this in the future. Gilead did the trials, but 95% of the effort behind this was NIH funded. We can’t even guess how many game changing drugs have been cut in 2025.
As always Trump completely misunderstands the situation. Yes there’s a point in how exepnsive drugs are in the us, especially relative to other countries. But whether it’s manufactured in the us has almost nothing to do with it.
The problem is recovering all the development costs from American patients, and more recently just charging what they think the market will bear. We have to fix the complex maze of healthcare and all the levels of profiteering, we have to fix how development costs can be recovered and most of all we need to fix charging what the market will bear. Has everyone already forgotten the outcry over insulin a few years ago. A ceo who should be in jail decided to start charging ten or twenty times the cost, because he could, because us patients are a captive market. Then got away with saying “some of you can use these coupons….”. There’s definitely a point where exploitive business practices have crossed the line and should be considered criminal acts
The problem is recovering all the development costs
Yeeeaaahhh, but no.
There is also a huge amount of plain greed in there, drug companies aren’t exactly known for being very generous to put it mildly. Cost of healthcare in the US is beyond insanely expensive and that isn’t just because Americans are rich, the vast majority aren’t and for many, getting sick is not only a death sentence, it’s also a death sentence to the family as they’ll be stuck with the medical bills that will bankrupt them.
The US healthcare system is beyond fucked up with corruption and just plain extortion. Wanna live? Say, that’s a nice first born you have there!
The issue here is that the bigger insurance companies literally set the prices for services and drugs.
You wanna keep doing business with United, you charge them what they’re willing to pay, otherwise they’ll just reject claims or put you out of network altogether.
I figured this would come up but you’ve gotta remember that drugs are expensive as hell to develop. And it just received US approval in June so it’s not like they have been sitting on this making money for years.
The cost of drug development is vastly overstated as an excuse. The reality is $100-200M, but pharma expects $14B++ in returns. Little of that goes back into basic research.
The front end of costs was spent by the NIH, and after that was ended, Pharma is not taking up the slack. It’s not sustainable and pharma will die in a decade.
Yeah, a lot of these drug companies have ad budgets larger than the R&D budget, but any overhead is used to jack up the prices. I swear ads are sold at inflated prices for the sake of being able to sell high.
Just because development of a single drug costs not that much does not mean you don’t need to pay for failed drugs too. If many drugs die during trials someone gotta pay for that. Profitability is a better indicator for greed.
40 dollars in low income countries. 28,000 dollars in the united states. The drug is made in the united states.
WTF.
speaking as a indian - the reason that this is possible because we kinda ignore medical patents and formulations. (using kinda because i do not know the exact wording in law and the cooldown period).
It should also tell you about the cost of ingredients and manufacturing vs the costs you pay for “rnd for big companies” (who often build upon work done by universities which often are run by public fundiing)
15 years on patent drugs.
Pharmaceutical companies used to do basic research until the 90s. At this point, they are just banks who buy biotechs spun out from NIH research.
Now that NIH is gone, the industry will atrophy within a decade. There will be no new drugs.
Those companies spend more on advertising than RND
Makes you wonder if Trump has a point.
But thanks to RFK and Trump, there will be no more drugs like this in the future. Gilead did the trials, but 95% of the effort behind this was NIH funded. We can’t even guess how many game changing drugs have been cut in 2025.
As always Trump completely misunderstands the situation. Yes there’s a point in how exepnsive drugs are in the us, especially relative to other countries. But whether it’s manufactured in the us has almost nothing to do with it.
The problem is recovering all the development costs from American patients, and more recently just charging what they think the market will bear. We have to fix the complex maze of healthcare and all the levels of profiteering, we have to fix how development costs can be recovered and most of all we need to fix charging what the market will bear. Has everyone already forgotten the outcry over insulin a few years ago. A ceo who should be in jail decided to start charging ten or twenty times the cost, because he could, because us patients are a captive market. Then got away with saying “some of you can use these coupons….”. There’s definitely a point where exploitive business practices have crossed the line and should be considered criminal acts
A hell of a lot of that is funded by tax payers. They don’t need to recoup money, they need to give the tax payers what they already paid for.
Drug development in trials costs $120-200M. Upon approval, Pharma expects $15B +.
They have proven they would rather a drug not save lives than offer lower profits.
if a product can be sold at 10 times the profit to one fifth the people only an idiot would not rase prices ten fold
Yeeeaaahhh, but no.
There is also a huge amount of plain greed in there, drug companies aren’t exactly known for being very generous to put it mildly. Cost of healthcare in the US is beyond insanely expensive and that isn’t just because Americans are rich, the vast majority aren’t and for many, getting sick is not only a death sentence, it’s also a death sentence to the family as they’ll be stuck with the medical bills that will bankrupt them.
The US healthcare system is beyond fucked up with corruption and just plain extortion. Wanna live? Say, that’s a nice first born you have there!
I’ve encountered this: This treatment is $10,000 if you pay out of pocket, but we’ll charge your insurance company $680 for it.
The issue here is that the bigger insurance companies literally set the prices for services and drugs.
You wanna keep doing business with United, you charge them what they’re willing to pay, otherwise they’ll just reject claims or put you out of network altogether.
It’s FUBAR.
I figured this would come up but you’ve gotta remember that drugs are expensive as hell to develop. And it just received US approval in June so it’s not like they have been sitting on this making money for years.
The cost of drug development is vastly overstated as an excuse. The reality is $100-200M, but pharma expects $14B++ in returns. Little of that goes back into basic research.
The front end of costs was spent by the NIH, and after that was ended, Pharma is not taking up the slack. It’s not sustainable and pharma will die in a decade.
Yeah, a lot of these drug companies have ad budgets larger than the R&D budget, but any overhead is used to jack up the prices. I swear ads are sold at inflated prices for the sake of being able to sell high.
Just because development of a single drug costs not that much does not mean you don’t need to pay for failed drugs too. If many drugs die during trials someone gotta pay for that. Profitability is a better indicator for greed.
Gilead’s own words show they aren’t hurting in the least for profits. It’s definitely greed.
You must look at the whole sector as failures sink companies but yes.
I’d like to see some sources on those numbers, I couldn’t find any of that when I searched.