Aww, boo hoo hoo Drug prices to plummet in wave of expiring patents

[rockclimber]

Quote:..Drug prices to plummet in wave of expiring patents

By LINDA A. JOHNSON - AP Business Writer | AP – Mon, Jul 25, 2011
..
The cost of prescription medicines used by millions of people every day is about to plummet.

The next 14 months will bring generic versions of seven of the world's 20 best-selling drugs, including the top two: cholesterol fighter Lipitor and blood thinner Plavix.

The magnitude of this wave of expiring drugs patents is unprecedented. Between now and 2016, blockbusters with about $255 billion in global annual sales will go off patent, notes EvaluatePharma Ltd., a London research firm. Generic competition will decimate sales of the brand-name drugs and slash the cost to patients and companies that provide health benefits.

Top drugs getting generic competition by September 2012 are taken by millions every day: Lipitor alone is taken by about 4.3 million Americans and Plavix by 1.4 million. Generic versions of big-selling drugs for blood pressure, asthma, diabetes, depression, high triglycerides, HIV and bipolar disorder also are coming by then.

The flood of generics will continue for the next decade or so, as about 120 brand-name prescription drugs lose market exclusivity, according to prescription benefits manager Medco Health Solutions Inc.

To read the rest of this 'sad' story go here:

http://news.yahoo.com/drug-prices-plummet-wave-expiring-patents-040249021.html;_ylt=Ajtyr6iY1EM_KYTO9uu7aMqs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNhaDBzcmN2BHBrZwM2NGVlZWNmMS1mNmZjLTNmZTYtYTEyNC1kMTQzNGViZmYwYmMEcG9zAzEyBHNlYwNNZWRpYVRvcFN0b3J5BHZlcgNhNmM3OGRlMC1iNmQ1LTExZTAtYmZmOS02NzYzMjg4ODk2MDk-;_ylg=X3oDMTFpNzk0NjhtBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANob21lBHB0A3NlY3Rpb25z;_ylv=3

[FastTadpole]

The 3rd biggest sector of the USA Economy besides banking and military. This would allow yet another wealth transfer, likely east where they manufacture a lot of generics such as Cipla in India where Bill Gates contract for all sorts of cheap vaccines for his African humanitarian mission (ref).

.. or somewhere in China were it is already being manufactured.

Surely some other R&D lab will come up with something better than that Plavix garbage. Besides you can re-patent it for perpetually if you finding other uses for it and swap a molecule or three.

or you could just get the FDA to extend the patent .. oh it did until May 2012. How kind.

Patent limitations are just another mechanism to transfer wealth, and give an out to transfer IP from shell to shell in this game. I mean a big conglomerates like Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and partner Sanofi-Aventis can keep a patent forever if they really wanted to. See Disney and Mickey Mouse .. shouldn't that cartoon character be public domain after being around since 1928?

[rockclimber]

(07-27-2011, 07:18 AM)FastTadpole Wrote: The 3rd biggest sector of the USA Economy besides banking and military. This would allow yet another wealth transfer, likely east where they manufacture a lot of generics such as Cipla in India where Bill Gates contract for all sorts of cheap vaccines for his African humanitarian mission (ref).

.. or somewhere in China were it is already being manufactured.

Surely some other R&D lab will come up with something better than that Plavix garbage. Besides you can re-patent it for perpetually if you finding other uses for it and swap a molecule or three.

or you could just get the FDA to extend the patent .. oh it did until May 2012. How kind.

Patent limitations are just another mechanism to transfer wealth, and give an out to transfer IP from shell to shell in this game. I mean a big conglomerates like Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and partner Sanofi-Aventis can keep a patent forever if they really wanted to. See Disney and Mickey Mouse .. shouldn't that cartoon character be public domain after being around since 1928?

Good post...it is some what of a double-edged sword as we know the creative bastards will just create new diseaeses or buy up the companies that sell the generics and then flood some gullible and desparate 3rd world nation with them. I'm just happy to see that they will not be pulling in the profits despite the job losses it would be better if people less people were pushing mostly poisonous drugs as a result of junk science and more importantly, greed.

This could also explain why their pushing controls on vitamins and supplements since this market could gain momentum once the tiresome commercials disappear. These drugs mask the problem rather than fixing it and end up giving people other problems. It's typical of america though, always looking for the quick fix rather than the solution.

[rsol]

a cartoon and a chemical are very different copyrights

[Dunamis]

Seems like a bucket-load of new medications is about the be patented, it may not all be good news...

[rsol]

yeah i wouldnt be surprised that the more popular ones suddenly get discovered to cause cancer, headaches, nausea ect...

[Dunamis]

(07-27-2011, 06:13 PM)rsol Wrote: yeah i wouldnt be surprised that the more popular ones suddenly get discovered to cause cancer, headaches, nausea ect...

What a good point man! That'd be a spanner in the works. Let's hope it just starts happening too fast for them to keep up. I am sure stock prices must almost be starting to show the signs.

[Infinite]

(07-27-2011, 07:18 AM)FastTadpole Wrote: Patent limitations are just another mechanism to transfer wealth, and give an out to transfer IP from shell to shell in this game.

More like patents are a mechanism to transfer wealth. I recommend you guys check out this article about the folly of intellectual property such as patents: In a Free Market, Information Wants to be Free. This is one of the biggest problems I have with right-libertarianism.

[FastTadpole]

(07-28-2011, 09:34 AM)Infinite Wrote:

(07-27-2011, 07:18 AM)FastTadpole Wrote: Patent limitations are just another mechanism to transfer wealth, and give an out to transfer IP from shell to shell in this game.

More like patents are a mechanism to transfer wealth. I recommend you guys check out this article about the folly of intellectual property such as patents: In a Free Market, Information Wants to be Free. This is one of the biggest problems I have with right-libertarianism.

I should rephrase that. They can be used both ways; there are control gate to either hoard or transfer IP. The fact an idea has to be registered with a centralized entity makes it at least somewhat less secretive.

If ideas are commoditized in this fashion they are transferable while being protected. Time limit patents are a good idea, if they cannot be perpetually renewed. I'm all for setting the information free.


As for the article Star Trek had a few things "going for it" that we don't.

Scarcity was irrelevant for anything. They had access to everything tons of planets, replicators and if it wasn't they could go to the holideck.

There was a culture of pursuit of self fulfillment, possessions were irrelevant but status, power (including rank, access level) was a currency in of itself along with other rewards such as shore leave.

Everyone bought into the program of the good for all and obeyed orders and the hierarchy was very much in place. There was serious reprimand for going against the grain. Starfleet, Klingons, Cardassians, all had that culture installed. The Borg were even more strict but hey they were seriously efficient.

TBC.. interesting article on Star Trek vs Technocracy and Utopia.