Capitalism, Socialism and the Epi-pen......explained....

[2aguy]

Here we go....explaining the difference between capitalism, socialism and using the Epi-pen to show how more government caused the problem in the first place and how less government would solve it...

Capitalism vs Socialism BRILLIANTLY Compared In 2 Images

Now is what Hillary and Bernie are saying here a legitimate issue? Believe it or not, it is legitimate. The cost of life-saving medication is something that concerns every single person who relies on that medication.

However, what is likely not legitimate is their solution to the problem. As progressives, and even straight up socialists, they’re just calling for government investigation and more intervention.


What’s the obvious problem here? There’s already enough government red tape in the medical sector of the economy. Further government control of the medical market will only make greater problems later on down the road.

More specifically though, there is a reason why Mylan was able to raise the price of the EpiPen to insanely high levels, and that reason is not due to the free market.

Mylan was able to increase the price of the EpiPen because they hold a government enforced monopoly of the product.

That’s right, the government, to whom everybody is complaining, is creating the conditions under which Mylan can raise the price to literally whatever they want, and consumers have no choice but to buy.

This is not a result of the free market, but of government enforced monopoly and cronyism.

 

[irosie91]

my solution to epi-pen. Given the IMPORTANCE of the device in saving the lives of innocent citizens of evil bees and peanuts-----I support a government
deal -------subsidizing the pens for all those who need them

 

[2aguy]

my solution to epi-pen. Given the IMPORTANCE of the device in saving the lives of innocent citizens of evil bees and peanuts-----I support a government
deal -------subsidizing the pens for all those who need them

That is the problem.......then the quality will go down and they will cost us a fortune......and there will be shortages as well.....let the market handle it...if the government controlled production of the Iphone, it would be as useful as a brick...

 

[TheOldSchool]

Lol now 2aguy blames socialism for the epipen. You want the government to eliminate its patent and force them to share it with competitors? How very socialist of you.

And then you bring up the iPhone? I wonder what Trump's massive socialist tariffs will do to the price and capability of the iPhone.

 

[kiwiman127]

One of the main reasons that the US consumer pays the highest prices for prescriptions is the fact the US is the only country in the world that doesn't negotiate pharmaceutical pricing.
Here's a good article:
5 Reasons Prescription Drug Prices Are So High in the U.S.
5 Reasons Prescription Drug Prices Are So High in the U.S.
The monopoly thing ties into the fact that the pharmaceutical companies do the work of discovery and development as a reward for their work. However, drug companies are pretty good at using loop holes in the current law to extend their monoploies of their drug. That law must be tightened up to close those windows.
Anyway, read the article, interesting stuff.

 

[kiwiman127]

Lol now 2aguy blames socialism for the epipen. You want the government to eliminate its patent and force them to share it with competitors? How very socialist of you.

And then you bring up the iPhone? I wonder what Trump's massive socialist tariffs will do to the price and capability of the iPhone.

Actually, the US has the highest prices on pharmaceuticals by far in the world, everyone has socialized medicine and controls the costs of the drugs. We don't have socialized medicine and are getting raped by the fact that there is a law that our government can't negotiate pricing for American citizens. You can thank George Bush, the GOP and Obama for that law and the extension of that law.

 

[TheOldSchool]

Lol now 2aguy blames socialism for the epipen. You want the government to eliminate its patent and force them to share it with competitors? How very socialist of you.

And then you bring up the iPhone? I wonder what Trump's massive socialist tariffs will do to the price and capability of the iPhone.

Actually, the US has the highest prices on pharmaceuticals by far in the world, everyone has socialized medicine and controls the costs of the drugs. We don't have socialized medicine and are getting raped by the fact that there is a law that our government can't negotiate pricing for American citizens. You can thank George Bush, the GOP and Obama for that law and the extension of that law.

Tell that to 2aguy

 

[2aguy]

Lol now 2aguy blames socialism for the epipen. You want the government to eliminate its patent and force them to share it with competitors? How very socialist of you.

And then you bring up the iPhone? I wonder what Trump's massive socialist tariffs will do to the price and capability of the iPhone.

Actually, the US has the highest prices on pharmaceuticals by far in the world, everyone has socialized medicine and controls the costs of the drugs. We don't have socialized medicine and are getting raped by the fact that there is a law that our government can't negotiate pricing for American citizens. You can thank George Bush, the GOP and Obama for that law and the extension of that law.

Tell that to 2aguy

The reason we have high prices...we actually research and create the medicines....the socialists make a pill for pennies.....our Pharmacuetical companies spend billions to actually find the cures...then you guys just want them to eat that expenditure .......which is a great incentive to not go into the life saving business of finding drugs that save lives....

The government got into the vaccine business...and drove out all the vaccine makers...and then wasted vaccines by over producing them according to government demands......that is what the government does....

 

[2aguy]

All of the things socialists don't need to care about because they just use the government to take what they want...

The myth of Big Pharma vaccine profits – updated

Analysis of Big Pharma vaccine profits


Still, US$10.5 billion sounds like a boatload of cash, but let’s see what happens to that boatload.

• Every drug, whether a new vaccine or new drug for erectile dysfunction, costs aroundUS$2.8 from discovery to regulatory approval (although other analyses show a cost of US$3.8 to 11 billion) each to fully develop, depending on the drug and the market. But despite what some believe about Big Pharma, drug development is not a slam dunk. For example, in cancer drugs, only around 13% gain final approval from the FDA (pdf), so the vast majority of drugs that enter clinical trials end up as failures.
• Since Big Pharma funds its own R&D, it has to pay for both its successes and its failures. Using financial data from a typical broad-based pharmaceutical company like Johnson & Johnson spends about 11.4% of REVENUES (not profit) on R&D (pdf). So out of the US$24.0 billion in Big Pharma vaccine revenue, about US$2.7 billion is removed from the net profit for R&D expenses (which are not counted in the administrative expenses for this exercise), so we’re down to US$7.8 billion.
• One of the mistakes made by individuals with no experience in business finance make two falsehoods. First, they assume that risk capital, the money to finance operations, including R&D, is free. And it is freely available. But it’s not. Second, the fail to understand that Big Pharma needs to finance future R&D operations from its own cash reserves (or borrow at high rates).
• Big Pharma also has to pay taxes on the net profit. And because Big Pharma has manufacturing, R&D, and administration facilities in modern nations (they need access to intelligent, well trained employees), they have a more difficult time in moving revenues outside of taxing authorities. They usually pay around 40% in taxes on the net profit. And they have to depreciate all of their capital, whether its buildings or equipment, because eventually they have to replace it
• Companies need to acquire technology too, which costs money. Back to Johnson & Johnson (JNJ). They weren’t much of a player in vaccine manufacturing and sales until 2011, when they paid US$2.4 billion for Crucell, a manufacturer of vaccines. In other words, JNJ expended one year of profits for every vaccine sold in the world, just to purchase one vaccine manufacturer. And that expenditure has to be expensed (out of cash reserves, but is accounted for over some period of time, possibly seven years).

And the socialist countries....buy the end result...for pennies...after all the real work and expense has been done in the United States....

 

[Moonglow]

There was so many filler words you'd think the article was wood pulp at the saw mill on a busy day...

 

[2aguy]

Lol now 2aguy blames socialism for the epipen. You want the government to eliminate its patent and force them to share it with competitors? How very socialist of you.

And then you bring up the iPhone? I wonder what Trump's massive socialist tariffs will do to the price and capability of the iPhone.

Here you go moron...

As Jay Stooksberry of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) reports:

In what other markets can a business jack up its prices without alienating its customers and pushing them toward competitors? Answer: when that market has no other competitors. Emily Willingham of Forbes explained it aptly with a recent article titled, “Why Did Mylan Hike EpiPen Prices 400%? Because They Could.”

In early 2016, Sanofi, Mylan’s primary competitor, discontinued its line of Auvi-Q auto-injectors, similar to Mylan’s product. With Auvi-Q out the picture, Mylan gained 98 market share of epinephrine injectors.

But surely a new business will take advantage of this public relations debacle, enter the market, and offer a more affordable option, right?

Unfortunately – and as no surprise to libertarians and free market advocates – federal regulators continue to buffer the padding that surrounds Mylan’s monopoly. Shortly after the Auvi-Q recall, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries pitched a generic version of the EpiPen. However, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) squashed their efforts, citing “major deficiencies” in their application. Teva plans to appeal the decision, but won’t be able to effectively move forward until 2017 at the earliest.

Once again, we find that government is not the solution, but the problem. There IS another option for EpiPen users that has been developed, but federal regulators at the FDA will not allow it through.
Why? Probably because cronyism is running rampant at the FDA, and it is profitable for both Mylan and the FDA to keep a monopoly enforced.

And why would there be a problem with the FDA......maybe it is because a Senators daughter runs the company....

How a senator’s daughter became CEO of the company at the center of the EpiPen controversy

The dramatic 400 percent rise in the cost of EpiPens is the next big flash point in the national debate over skyrocketing prescription drug prices.

It turns out that the woman at the center of this controversy has powerful political connections. My colleague Catherine Ho reports that the head of Mylan, the drug company accused of hiking the price of the pen that treats severe allergic reactions, is also the daughter of Joe Manchin, a Democratic U.S. senator from West Virginia and the state's former governor.

Heather Bresch's career has risen along with her father's, a fact that has not gone unnoticed by her critics. Her well-connected father ran into his friend Milan Puskar at a basketball game and finagled her an interview at Puskar’s drug company. Dropping by Mylan’s executive offices, then located in a double-wide trailer in Morgantown, Bresch walked out with a job typing labels in the factory basement.


2003: Bresch is lobbying Congress as it passes a major Medicare overhaul. The 2003 law, among many other things, created an entitlement program for prescription drugs. A Mylan news release praised Bresch's work with the law, saying it "focused on ensuring consumers' access to affordable pharmaceuticals."


2012: Bresch becomes CEO of Mylan. She's the only woman to ever run a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company. (But as Fortune Magazine notes, she was kicked off 2015's list after technically headquartering her company in the Netherlands, a practice her father said should be "repealed.")




2014: Mylan makes a deal that puts Manchin in an awkward position. The company essentially makes the Netherlands its headquarters, a move that allows its tax bill to be significantly lower. That's a practice known as inversion, and it has become a no-no in today's populist era. As my colleague Ho points out, President Obama called inversions an "unpatriotic loophole."

Manchin tells National Journal he thinks inversion should "be absolutely repealed."

2015: Yet another profile on Bresch. Fortune Magazine calls Bresch "the most powerful woman in the drug industry" as it chronicles her attempt to execute the largest hostile takeover in history of an over-the-counter drug manufacturer. (It failed.)

Fortune ranks Bresch No. 22 on its list of most powerful woman.

2016: Not only is Bresch under fire for the EpiPen price hike since 2007, but she's also weathering bad headlines for her pay spiking over the same time period. NBC reports her pay jumped 671 percent over the past eight years, along with other executives at the company.

 

[kiwiman127]

Lol now 2aguy blames socialism for the epipen. You want the government to eliminate its patent and force them to share it with competitors? How very socialist of you.

And then you bring up the iPhone? I wonder what Trump's massive socialist tariffs will do to the price and capability of the iPhone.

Actually, the US has the highest prices on pharmaceuticals by far in the world, everyone has socialized medicine and controls the costs of the drugs. We don't have socialized medicine and are getting raped by the fact that there is a law that our government can't negotiate pricing for American citizens. You can thank George Bush, the GOP and Obama for that law and the extension of that law.

Tell that to 2aguy

The reason we have high prices...we actually research and create the medicines....the socialists make a pill for pennies.....our Pharmacuetical companies spend billions to actually find the cures...then you guys just want them to eat that expenditure .......which is a great incentive to not go into the life saving business of finding drugs that save lives....

The government got into the vaccine business...and drove out all the vaccine makers...and then wasted vaccines by over producing them according to government demands......that is what the government does....

You are really clueless about patents and how they work.
Thanks for making it so clear that your opinion should be ignored on this topic.

 

[2aguy]

Lol now 2aguy blames socialism for the epipen. You want the government to eliminate its patent and force them to share it with competitors? How very socialist of you.

And then you bring up the iPhone? I wonder what Trump's massive socialist tariffs will do to the price and capability of the iPhone.

Actually, the US has the highest prices on pharmaceuticals by far in the world, everyone has socialized medicine and controls the costs of the drugs. We don't have socialized medicine and are getting raped by the fact that there is a law that our government can't negotiate pricing for American citizens. You can thank George Bush, the GOP and Obama for that law and the extension of that law.

Tell that to 2aguy

The reason we have high prices...we actually research and create the medicines....the socialists make a pill for pennies.....our Pharmacuetical companies spend billions to actually find the cures...then you guys just want them to eat that expenditure .......which is a great incentive to not go into the life saving business of finding drugs that save lives....

The government got into the vaccine business...and drove out all the vaccine makers...and then wasted vaccines by over producing them according to government demands......that is what the government does....

You are really clueless about patents and how they work.
Thanks for making it so clear that your opinion should be ignored on this topic.

Try reading the links....

Unfortunately – and as no surprise to libertarians and free market advocates – federal regulators continue to buffer the padding that surrounds Mylan’s monopoly. Shortly after the Auvi-Q recall, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries pitched a generic version of the EpiPen. However, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) squashed their efforts, citing “major deficiencies” in their application. Teva plans to appeal the decision, but won’t be able to effectively move forward until 2017 at the earliest.

Once again, we find that government is not the solution, but the problem. There IS another option for EpiPen users that has been developed, but federal regulators at the FDA will not allow it through.
Why? Probably because cronyism is running rampant at the FDA, and it is profitable for both Mylan and the FDA to keep a monopoly enforced.