BIG Pharma’s Outsized Profits and Lobbying Spend

BIG Pharma’s Outsized Profits and Lobbying Spend | March 4, 2020

You want to talk about putting your money where your mouth is. That’s exactly what BIG Pharma is doing. Egregious price gouging to gain power in the marketplace and politics.

“To address the complicated question of whether the drug industry is too profitable, Fred Ledley, MD, of Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts, and colleagues compared data from 35 large pharmaceutical companies’ annual reports with 357 other firms in the S&P 500, from 2000 to 2018.

They found the median profit margin for drug companies was nearly double that of non-pharmaceutical companies (13.8% vs 7.7%) during that time.”

Click on this link for further information: https://www.medpagetoday.com/publichealthpolicy/healthpolicy/85197?xid=nl_mpt_SRPrimaryCare_2020-03-04&eun=g678261d0r&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=PrimaryCareUpdate_030420&utm_term=NL_Spec_Primary_Care_Update_Active&fbclid=IwAR2XdxyiHu_p0OreLdGqfH_EffJkon4iE9XfFID19UTwWEcNB7b3Oy4W0jA

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Posted in Epilepsy, News
Tags: lobbying, marketplace, politics, price gouging, profits

11 Comments »

Also the fact that the same drugs are cheaper in other countries. Drug companies are gouging us. Epilepsy drugs especially are very expensive.

LikeLiked by 2 people

Comment by prasadmok — March 4, 2020 @ 9:48 PM

Reply
- Opportunity knocks. No cares about what knocks us down. 😦
  
  LikeLiked by 2 people
  
  Comment by Phylis Feiner Johnson — March 4, 2020 @ 10:11 PM
  
  Reply
- If you add T.V.ads, other media commercials, sponsorships of events, sports figures,and most politicians, that we, and everyone,in some fashion, pay for, that’s even more dough. Countries with some kind of universal health care don’t have doctors and Big Pharma gangsters hawking their wares.
  
  LikeLiked by 1 person
  
  Comment by catsissie — March 4, 2020 @ 10:18 PM
  
  Reply
People should research it all and see how many of the AED’s & all other drugs are loaded with toxins, metals like ALUMINUM & other chemicals that are dangerous to all health including brain health, which seems to me has been going on for years & decades as NONE of the AED’s has ever stopped my seizures. If the drugs seems to have MORE side effects than helping the condition they are being taken for, then BIG PHARMA & the FDA should be accountable for making & approving worthless drugs that do nothing to stop a seizure.

LikeLiked by 2 people

Comment by James D — March 4, 2020 @ 9:50 PM

Reply
- BIG Pharma and the FDA should be held accountable. Period.
  
  LikeLiked by 2 people
  
  Comment by Phylis Feiner Johnson — March 4, 2020 @ 10:12 PM
  
  Reply
  - Who wants their daily talc? Food coloring? Ingredients that even an English professor of English can’t pronounce? I read that sheet from the pharmacy. If that stuff came in my peanut butter, I’d be expecting it to blow up before I got a bite of my sandwich! But then, when it comes to our medicine, WHAT are we going to do?
    
    LikeLiked by 1 person
    
    Comment by catsissie — March 4, 2020 @ 10:27 PM
There are laws in place they just have to be enforced. The sherman / clayton act applies to big pharma and the health care industry as a whole. If applied most healthcare would be affordable. Prices would drop by 75%
But no one in CONgress will enforce these laws because they are bought and paid for by the lobbyists hired by these corporations. Lobbying should be illegal, its legalized bribery.
It’s the American peoples fault because they do not hold these people accountable. When government is afraid of the people you have freedom, when people are afraid of the government you have tyranny .

LikeLiked by 2 people

Comment by Tom — March 4, 2020 @ 11:14 PM

Reply
- Well said. But I don’t think it’s the people’s fault.
  
  Were are ruled by the government and the government is what allows BIG Pharma to set their abhorrent prices.
  
  Tyranny is the best way to describe the pharmaceutical mess we are in now.
  
  LikeLiked by 1 person
  
  Comment by Phylis Feiner Johnson — March 5, 2020 @ 9:31 AM
  
  Reply
  - Governments job is to rule at the WILL of the people, so we the people are responsible. We cannot escape that fact. People will march and demonstrate about issues that are irrelevant except to special interest groups , but they will not stand against the corruption.
    
    LikeLiked by 3 people
    
    Comment by Tom — March 5, 2020 @ 12:52 PM
take a look at GoodRx. Prices are much lower and they even show who has the best prices in your area. I ‘ve had good luck with them.

LikeLiked by 2 people

Comment by Ellen LaFrancis — March 5, 2020 @ 8:23 AM

Reply
- In addition to your valuable information:
  
  Costco Member Prescription Program — offers a discount on all branded and generic prescription medications. Members (and their dependents) who have no prescription drug coverage available are eligible to join. http://www.envisionrx.com/costco/cmpp.aspx
  
  Walgreens Prescription Savings Club has over 400 generics priced at $12 for a 90-day supply. https://webapp.walgreens.com/MYWCARDWeb/servlet/walgreens.wcard.proxy.WCardInternetProxy/RxSavingsRH
  
  Walmart and Sam’s Club offer you “special negotiated pricing on prescription drugs” with their PatientAssistance.com Prescription Drug Program. (Sounds kind of fishy to me.) http://www.patientassistance.com/wmt.html
  
  And the RxSavingsPlus is a free drug/prescription discount card, to help lower the price for medication. It can be used at CVS Pharmacy, Target, Rite Aid and 60,000 participating pharmacies nationwide. And offers an average of 20% off the retail price of drugs. (Kind of skimpy, but one-stop shopping.) http://www.rxsavingsplus.com/
  
  LikeLiked by 1 person
  
  Comment by Phylis Feiner Johnson — March 5, 2020 @ 9:35 AM
  
  Reply

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Also the fact that the same drugs are cheaper in other countries. Drug companies are gouging us. Epilepsy drugs especially are very expensive.

LikeLiked by 2 people

Comment by prasadmok — March 4, 2020 @ 9:48 PM

Opportunity knocks. No cares about what knocks us down. 😦

LikeLiked by 2 people

Comment by Phylis Feiner Johnson — March 4, 2020 @ 10:11 PM

If you add T.V.ads, other media commercials, sponsorships of events, sports figures,and most politicians, that we, and everyone,in some fashion, pay for, that’s even more dough. Countries with some kind of universal health care don’t have doctors and Big Pharma gangsters hawking their wares.

LikeLiked by 1 person

Comment by catsissie — March 4, 2020 @ 10:18 PM

People should research it all and see how many of the AED’s & all other drugs are loaded with toxins, metals like ALUMINUM & other chemicals that are dangerous to all health including brain health, which seems to me has been going on for years & decades as NONE of the AED’s has ever stopped my seizures. If the drugs seems to have MORE side effects than helping the condition they are being taken for, then BIG PHARMA & the FDA should be accountable for making & approving worthless drugs that do nothing to stop a seizure.

Comment by James D — March 4, 2020 @ 9:50 PM

BIG Pharma and the FDA should be held accountable. Period.

LikeLiked by 2 people

Comment by Phylis Feiner Johnson — March 4, 2020 @ 10:12 PM

- Who wants their daily talc? Food coloring? Ingredients that even an English professor of English can’t pronounce? I read that sheet from the pharmacy. If that stuff came in my peanut butter, I’d be expecting it to blow up before I got a bite of my sandwich! But then, when it comes to our medicine, WHAT are we going to do?
  
  LikeLiked by 1 person
  
  Comment by catsissie — March 4, 2020 @ 10:27 PM

There are laws in place they just have to be enforced. The sherman / clayton act applies to big pharma and the health care industry as a whole. If applied most healthcare would be affordable. Prices would drop by 75%
But no one in CONgress will enforce these laws because they are bought and paid for by the lobbyists hired by these corporations. Lobbying should be illegal, its legalized bribery.
It’s the American peoples fault because they do not hold these people accountable. When government is afraid of the people you have freedom, when people are afraid of the government you have tyranny .

Comment by Tom — March 4, 2020 @ 11:14 PM

Well said. But I don’t think it’s the people’s fault.

Were are ruled by the government and the government is what allows BIG Pharma to set their abhorrent prices.

Tyranny is the best way to describe the pharmaceutical mess we are in now.

LikeLiked by 1 person

Comment by Phylis Feiner Johnson — March 5, 2020 @ 9:31 AM

- Governments job is to rule at the WILL of the people, so we the people are responsible. We cannot escape that fact. People will march and demonstrate about issues that are irrelevant except to special interest groups , but they will not stand against the corruption.
  
  LikeLiked by 3 people
  
  Comment by Tom — March 5, 2020 @ 12:52 PM

take a look at GoodRx. Prices are much lower and they even show who has the best prices in your area. I ‘ve had good luck with them.

Comment by Ellen LaFrancis — March 5, 2020 @ 8:23 AM

In addition to your valuable information:

Costco Member Prescription Program — offers a discount on all branded and generic prescription medications. Members (and their dependents) who have no prescription drug coverage available are eligible to join. http://www.envisionrx.com/costco/cmpp.aspx

Walgreens Prescription Savings Club has over 400 generics priced at $12 for a 90-day supply. https://webapp.walgreens.com/MYWCARDWeb/servlet/walgreens.wcard.proxy.WCardInternetProxy/RxSavingsRH

Walmart and Sam’s Club offer you “special negotiated pricing on prescription drugs” with their PatientAssistance.com Prescription Drug Program. (Sounds kind of fishy to me.) http://www.patientassistance.com/wmt.html

And the RxSavingsPlus is a free drug/prescription discount card, to help lower the price for medication. It can be used at CVS Pharmacy, Target, Rite Aid and 60,000 participating pharmacies nationwide. And offers an average of 20% off the retail price of drugs. (Kind of skimpy, but one-stop shopping.) http://www.rxsavingsplus.com/

LikeLiked by 1 person

Comment by Phylis Feiner Johnson — March 5, 2020 @ 9:35 AM

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