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Conversation has been slow here. I feel like the standards have increased to the point where people are afraid to post (except of course for bad faith posters who don't care).
So, let me try a post that's more of a conversation starter and less of a PhD thesis.
According to Bernie Sanders, it costs about $5 to make a monthly dose of Ozempic, the blockbuster-weight loss drug. Americans pay about $1000/month. Canadians pay $155. Germans pay $59.
The stock of the company which makes the drug, Novo Nordisk, has doubled since the beginning of 2023. (I considered buying in 2022 but didn't because I thought I was already too late 💀) It now has a market cap of nearly $600 billion, making it the most valuable company in Europe.
I assume that if companies were forced to charge the same price in U.S. as they do in Europe, the global pharma industry would become insolvent.
So why is the United States paying for > 100% of global pharma research? And how can we fix the glitch?
How much of that cost is borne by consumers, and how much by insurance? How much of that is actually paid, and how much is negotiated away when the drug manufacturers and hospitals and insurance companies square up? In this system, Novo Nordisk would be stupid to charge less, and it's not especially their fault that drug costs are so high.
This is much worse. If obese people pay $1000/month to lose weight they are freely making that choice.
Why should I pay $100/month in taxes and insurance for this drug which I don't even take? And why aren't German taxpayers paying for it - just me?
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