How th e US Government and Big Pharma P rotect Pharmaceut ical Profits

SUMMARY

The enormous profits of the pharmaceutical industry are dependent on government protected monopolies

Patent protected drugs only consist of 10% of the prescription drug market, but

constitute over 72% of drug spending.

When a drug loses its patent, its earning power is reduced by 80%-90%

Patent expirations between 2009 and 2014were estimated to have cost pharmaceutical corporations $120 billion in sales.

Expected patent expirations over the next 5 years are estimated to put at risk $215 billion in revenue.

Drug companies use ever-greening to maintain and prolong their monopolies

Ever-greening: Drug companies obtain new patents for existing drugs through minor

modifications of the original molecule. Between 1989 and 2000, 65% of Food and

Drug Administration approved applications for drugs contained already approved ingredients.

Many pharmaceutical companies turn to the medical devices that

administer the drug to uphold and prolong their monopolies

Drug companies use pay-to-delay to maintain and prolong their monopolies

Pay-to-delay: Pharmaceutical companies pay off generic manufacturers to delay the

release of generic versions of their drugs

http://nurses.3cdn.net/6122b37c9e91af0fbd_35m6b5a24.pdf

[pmabraham, BSN, RN]

Hmm, which party controls the FDA? Has the FDA been involved in slowing or stopping competition which in turn allows for monopolies and out of control prices?

The FDA is Partly to Blame for Mylan’s EpiPen Price Gouging | Liberty Blitzkrieg

BREAKING: Herman Cain Exposes Sick Truth Behind Epi-Pen Scandal

The Lack of EpiPen Competitors is the FDA's Fault | Mises Wire

How Congress, the FDA, and Sarah Jessica Parker Helped EpiPen Become a $1 Billion Business

EpiPen Uproar Highlights Company’s Family Ties to Congress

[herring_RN, ASN, BSN]

How to Cut Drug Prices? California Can Set a Model With Prop. 61

California voters can take matters, and their health, into their own hands – and set a national model by passing Proposition 61 in November.

Writing for the industry website PharmExec.com Tom Norton branded California Ground Zero” for their perennial war to protect their windfall profits. The initiative, he frets, would establish an incredibly deep, mandatory discount … for the public purchase of prescription drugs in America's largest state.”...

... Prop. 61 would direct California to pay no more for medications for patients it covers through state health programs than the prices paid by the DVA, which could cut prices for those patients by up to 40 percent – and save the state billions of dollars in drug purchases...

How to Cut Drug Prices? California Can Set a Model With Prop. 61 | Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community

[elkpark]

Hmm, which party controls the FDA? Has the FDA been involved in slowing or stopping competition which in turn allows for monopolies and out of control prices?

The FDA is Partly to Blame for Mylan's EpiPen Price Gouging | Liberty Blitzkrieg

BREAKING: Herman Cain Exposes Sick Truth Behind Epi-Pen Scandal

The Lack of EpiPen Competitors is the FDA's Fault | Mises Wire

How Congress, the FDA, and Sarah Jessica Parker Helped EpiPen Become a $1 Billion Business

EpiPen Uproar Highlights Company's Family Ties to Congress

Hmm, which party does control the FDA? The commissioner is nominated by the President but has to be approved by the Senate, and the FDA enforces laws which are passed by Congress. One of the articles you link above about the EpiPen trainwreck points out that it was Congress that passed legislation requiring schools to all stock EpiPens. Hmmm, which party controls Congress??

I'm pleasantly surprised, though, that at least you didn't manage to come up with some contorted logic to somehow make this Hillary Clinton's fault, personally.