To the Editor:
Re “Getting Answers on Drug Prices” (editorial, Feb. 25):
As an attorney representing whistle-blowers in cases against the pharmaceutical industry, I know firsthand that drug prices and pharmaceutical marketing tactics are driven by promises to Wall Street and not the cost of research and development or medical necessity.
The issue is not just the cost of drugs; dangerous pharmaceutical products are being marketed absent medical necessity while slick messaging by sales representatives is being used to promote drugs outside their Food and Drug Administration-approved purpose or to encourage physicians to switch patients from cost-efficient generic drugs to exponentially more costly branded products.
When the law catches up with the industry, criminal pleas are taken and fines are paid; unfortunately, the fines often amount to no more than the fee for a license to break the law.
Any presidential candidate who promises universal health care coverage, or Medicare for all, without addressing the price of prescription drugs and health care fraud is simply selling a bill of goods.
Reuben Guttman
Bethesda, Md.
To the Editor:
You correctly note that Humira, a rheumatoid arthritis drug, is “the best-selling prescription drug in the world.” It’s a good and useful drug, but since going on sale in 2003, its price has soared. It is among the most profitable pharmaceuticals in the world, now costing as much as $50,000 a year.
Top drugs, no matter how profitable to start, are routinely increased in price up to 20 percent annually in the United States. A patient could fly first class to Paris, stay at the Ritz, dine at a top Michelin restaurant, buy A one-year supply of Humira at local prices in France, fly back home and finish with enough profit to hire a registered nurse to administer the injection every two weeks.
Select pharmaceutical stocks have been excellent investments based on increasing value for decades.
Lonnie Hanauer
West Orange, N.J.
The writer is a rheumatologist.
To the Editor:
There is one other comparison I hoped you would make between tobacco and Big Pharma: Tobacco advertising has been banned from TV. I would be greatly relieved to have the ubiquitous pharmaceutical advertising banned from TV as well. Spending profits on advertising only compounds the insult of the high cost of the very drugs being hawked.
Robert Whitfield
Collingswood, N.J.
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Home » Analysis & Comment » Opinion | Anger Over High Drug Prices in U.S.
Opinion | Anger Over High Drug Prices in U.S.
To the Editor:
Re “Getting Answers on Drug Prices” (editorial, Feb. 25):
As an attorney representing whistle-blowers in cases against the pharmaceutical industry, I know firsthand that drug prices and pharmaceutical marketing tactics are driven by promises to Wall Street and not the cost of research and development or medical necessity.
The issue is not just the cost of drugs; dangerous pharmaceutical products are being marketed absent medical necessity while slick messaging by sales representatives is being used to promote drugs outside their Food and Drug Administration-approved purpose or to encourage physicians to switch patients from cost-efficient generic drugs to exponentially more costly branded products.
When the law catches up with the industry, criminal pleas are taken and fines are paid; unfortunately, the fines often amount to no more than the fee for a license to break the law.
Any presidential candidate who promises universal health care coverage, or Medicare for all, without addressing the price of prescription drugs and health care fraud is simply selling a bill of goods.
Reuben Guttman
Bethesda, Md.
To the Editor:
You correctly note that Humira, a rheumatoid arthritis drug, is “the best-selling prescription drug in the world.” It’s a good and useful drug, but since going on sale in 2003, its price has soared. It is among the most profitable pharmaceuticals in the world, now costing as much as $50,000 a year.
Top drugs, no matter how profitable to start, are routinely increased in price up to 20 percent annually in the United States. A patient could fly first class to Paris, stay at the Ritz, dine at a top Michelin restaurant, buy A one-year supply of Humira at local prices in France, fly back home and finish with enough profit to hire a registered nurse to administer the injection every two weeks.
Select pharmaceutical stocks have been excellent investments based on increasing value for decades.
Lonnie Hanauer
West Orange, N.J.
The writer is a rheumatologist.
To the Editor:
There is one other comparison I hoped you would make between tobacco and Big Pharma: Tobacco advertising has been banned from TV. I would be greatly relieved to have the ubiquitous pharmaceutical advertising banned from TV as well. Spending profits on advertising only compounds the insult of the high cost of the very drugs being hawked.
Robert Whitfield
Collingswood, N.J.
Source: Read Full Article