DRUG COSTS: PAY FOR DELAY

 It is possible to shop around to buy prescription drugs. If you think CVS is too high, there are alternatives like Rite Aid (for awhile anyway) or other so-called drug stores. There is genuine competition among drug stores, but there isn't any competition among pharmaceutical companies.

Pharmaceutical companies are where the real problem is. My b***h is one company buys a drug from another company and then jack up the price 1000%, perhaps even though the drug in question is generic. I give examples of jacking up the prices at "Where Is Teddy Roosevelt When We Need Him:" *

A good example that has been getting a lot of press is the Epipin, that should be a $40 item (allowing for a 100% markup), but Mylan has jacked up the price to $600. Actually my nonprofit backup health insurance plan sells it for something over $200 (for two) which is still an outrageous price.

An example  given here of how phamaceuticals circumvent the law is Lipitor (italics are quotes) when it was close to coming off patent:

One tactic that helps brand-name drug companies retain revenue when their products’patents are close to expiring is entering into what is known as a “pay-for-delay” agreement. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), brand-name drug companies can delay generic competition by agreeing to pay a generic competitor to hold its competing product off the market for a certain period of time. These agreements typically arise as part of the patent litigation settlement process between brand-name and generic drug manufacturers.
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Generic drug manufacturer Ranbaxy Laboratories was the first manufacturer to file for FDA approval of its generic version of Lipitor, submitting its application in 2003.17 In 2008, Pfizer and Ranbaxy reportedly entered into an agreement that Pfizer would stoptrying to block Ranbaxy’s efforts to launch its product if Ranbaxy delayed introductionuntil November 2011.18 In return, Ranbaxy gained the right to sell a generic version ofthe significantly less popular drug Caduet, a combination pill of Lipitor and the bloodpressure drug Norvasc, seven years earlier than would have otherwise been possible.**

From 2006 through 2009, Pfizer increased the price of Liptor by 4.0 to 4.5% a year. In 2010 it jacked up the price by 9.3%, in 2011 by 17.5% and in 20012 by 9.9%. From 2006 to 2012 the annual cost of Liptor treatment for a patient increased from $1,290/yr to $2,140/yr.* Note this period goes right through the economic Armageddon.  Actually the price should have fallen, once the development costs were paid off.   OK maybe continue for a year or two to help defray failed attempton other drugs.  Instead the cost kept steadily rising.

The cited report is long but well worth reading to see how pharmaceutical companies circumvent generic drugs to be produced. The example above in italics is only one of many. See the cited article for other examples.

* http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2016/08/where-is-teddy-roosevelt-when-we-need.html
** http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2016/10/pharmaceuticals.html