Quote:
Originally posted by Flash Gordon
Why is the drug industry so special? Other businesses spend tons of money on R&D but they have to COMPETE with others in the free market. Why is the drug industry so unique? Because they want us and the politicians to think they are unique. They spend billions of dollars on marketing which they did not do before. Nobody is asking the drug companies to sell at low profits, just a fair reasonable profit, which they are not doing in this country.
If drug industry is doing the "RIGHT" thing like you abviously agree, then why there are so many people in this country do not agree with your view? Because your view is not the consumers' view, but the view of the drug industry, their cronies, and some politicians. Talk to the seniors who live on SS and have to spend 1/3 their income on drugs. Talk to the seniors who only take half of the required dosage because they have to spend the rest of the money on food and shelter. Talk to the seniors who have to go to Canada and Mexico to shop for their drugs and tell them that you feel the drug companies are doing the right thing!!!
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Well, to start with, depending entirely on Social Security for your retirement and survival in old-age is a mistake to begin with, and anyone that has any faith in that system NOW is completely out of thier mind...
If I decide that the price of toilet paper is too high for me, or that the price of pizza or bottled water or underwear or light bulbs is too high for my "limited income", should the government force the producers of those products to lower thier prices? I think not.
I AM a consumer, so yes, mine IS a "consumer's viewpoint".
I'm not talking about treating the drug industry with any "special" considerations. I'm talking about NOT putting any unfair "special" RESTRICTIONS on them just because of the nature of the product they produce. If you invent something--not just drugs but ANYTHING--using your own R&D, and/or your own money and time, then you have a right to patent it according to the relevant patent laws, and to profit from it in any way you are legally able to do so. When the patent expires, then it's a new ballgame. Why should pharmaceuticals be any different than other products? Why should thier profits be arbitrarily limited while other companies that produce other products are not?
Mike