Republican Administration Maintains Exclusivity Stance in GLP-1 (Tirzepatide) Compounding Dispute

[AndyPanda]

Honestly religion is less contentious than politics these days. If you want to discuss the various sects of Protestantism have at it.

Nope!

 

[keangkong]

False dichotomy. We both know that it’s much more complicated than this simplistic AM talk radio host explanation.

Am I oversimplifying? Definitely. If you wanted a more detailed explanation, you'd have to ask a person with more knowledge. I have never taken an economics course. Is it a false dichotomy? Although this is speculation, it's my opinion that without companies making huge profits, these drugs and many others wouldn't have been developed. This is speculative because our current system produced these drugs. Can I say with certainty that a truly socialist system wouldn't have produced drugs as effective as these? I cannot. My own economic beliefs tend towards support for capitalism. I'm toying with the idea that the US should limit the amounts that people can be charged for drugs. The amounts would be based upon some conception of a reasonable return. Such restrictions would reduce the amount invested in pharmaceutical development. That's why it's important not to cut too much. I also worry that once government takes this over that it will create a worse system that what we have now.

 

[hexagonal]

I am generally a full-throated capitalist. I think a fair market in a fair system (though I think that corporatism is dangerous) is the right thing in most cases.

However, I think there are some areas where it produces sub-optimal solutions on the whole - pharmaceutical research being one of them, but other areas being things that most of us are perfectly happy to socialize - police officers, firefighters, etc. Areas where the general goal should be "the public good" rather than "shareholder profits."

And I mean, I'm a shareholder. Both in my retirement fund tracking the S&P 500 and in more active investments in individual companies. I don't think that shareholders are inherently evil. I just think that if I am the shareholder of a pharmaceutical company my incentives are not aligned in such a way that generates the best possible outcomes for individuals that need medication.

 

[oguard]

I think that there should be some level of conscientious capitalism in a free society. We are still all in this thing together and should as a society have some degree of obligation towards one another if we are to prosper as a nation. The mark ups on these drugs is simply insane. Probably it is thousands of percent considering how cheap we can buy it from China and I know the Chinese are still making a hearty profit from their sales. We are fed the myth that these drugs are so expensive due to research. The reality is those non stop drug ads every day and during the Super Bowl have to be paid for and we foot the bill. They can make a huge profit of their drugs, but don’t have to gouge patients either.