Drug companies justify the high costs of prescription drugs by saying that it's to cover the high costs of their research, experiments, and time spent on developing the drug. When other companies sell the patented drug at a discounted rate, it forces the original company to raise the price even higher to make up for the loss in sales.

Originally posted by carslake
Novartis charges $10,000 per annum for its anti-retroviral drug, whereas India manufactures it for $70 per annum. Is it me or is Novartis making $9930 on every patient taking its treatment, can anyone justify that level of profit.

They made it, they get to decide what it sells for.

The problem is that india has unusual patent laws, they basically allow indian companies to take the result of another companies years of research, investment, and expenditures, and make rip-offs of their product, which they then sell, on their own, for a proft.
Normally we'd call this 'stealing', but, on the other hand, people are dying.

The problem is that if the whole world did this, then we wouldn't have these medecines in the first place. You should notice, that the indian pharmaceutical industry isn't creating new drugs and treatments, becuase its not profitable.

Its a cruel, cruel world. I guess there will be 100,000 dead in the short term, and maybe more in the long run. Oh well they shouldn't have been born in the third world should they.

dismissed

NEXT!!!