On Wed, 31 Aug 2016 13:40:20 -0400, Keyser Soze
wrote:


The current scandal over the epipen price gouging has nothing to do with
development of the product or the cost of the med, which has been
estimated at no more than $1.00. Coincidentally, that is about the same
cost as the current polio vaccine. The original Salk vaccine costs to
the public were kept very low because Jonas Salk was a humanitarian, not
a corporate goniff, and if memory serves, did not patent his medication.
I remember distinctly as a little kid lining up at the local elementary
school, where doctors and nurses had volunteered to inoculate every
schoolkid in New Haven at no cost to parents.

I agree that this EpiPen deal is highway robbery and if the government
wants to do something, they should streamline the process for someone
to knock this product off but that is cutting back on regulation so
you are automatically against it. The drug itself is generic and dirt
cheap. The patent is in the little bit of plastic that injects it.
This is not rocket science and if FDA would loosen it's grip, any
injection molding shop would be popping them out for a buck or less
each.
It would cost more to certify the shop that loads the drug than the
drug and the injector combined. Knocking off products in any other
industry is common if not the rule. It is not shocking to me that the
medical devices industry is the glaring exception. You only have to
look at the size of the bribes they send legislators here. They have
already sent the politicians over $161 million in this cycle alone
(15% of that to Hillary, by far the largest single benefactor) .
I know you think regulation is the panacea but, as long as the people
who write the regulation, are taking money from the regulated
industries, only the companies who can pony up that kind of money will
be served by that regulation. It is not the consumer who benefits and
it is not the small company that wants to compete. Regulation mainly
benefits the people who can pay to mold that regulation.