On Fri, 26 Nov 2010 23:23:11 -0500, wrote:

On Fri, 26 Nov 2010 19:37:38 -0800, wrote:

On Fri, 26 Nov 2010 20:44:25 -0500, wrote:

On Fri, 26 Nov 2010 14:51:58 -0800, wrote:

On Thu, 25 Nov 2010 22:09:26 -0500, wrote:

On Thu, 25 Nov 2010 18:44:39 -0800 (PST), Frogwatch
wrote:

Maybe it cost that much to produce. R&D aint cheap

That is the problem with all of the "orphan" diseases. If you spend
$50 million developing a drug that only goes to 10 thousand paying
patients, it is going to be expensive.

So, therefore, it should not be up to for-profit companies. It should
be the responsibility of the state to "promote the general welfare" of
its citizens.

The reality is the same, whether it is the taxpayer or the people who
buy drug insurance or just the patient himself. It will still be
expensive per patient and there is always a cost benefit analysis.

If you are honestly suggesting the government should be developing
these drugs, I would ask, which breakthrough drug has the government
ever developed?
Just look at the human genome project. The government spent a lot of
money and got nowhere for over a decade. A private company tackled the
project and broke the code in months.

The cost will not be the same, since the gov't wouldn't be spending a
large percentage of money on adverts to "promote" the drug. In
addition, the overhead would be lower, and most importantly, most of
the orphan disease drugs would not be even developed by the for-profit
drug companies.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0105140107.htm


You are not going to see me defend the way big pharma markets drugs
but they are the only ones with the capability to develop new drugs.
Personally I think we are over drugged. The doctors and the drug
companies have convinced us we haven't been to the doctor unless we
come home with a couple prescriptions.
Unfortunately they will usually be the ones the drug salesman is
pumping, whether it really helps you or not. A hint is what you see on
all the pens and note pads at the doctor's office.

I am the only person I know my age who is not taking 3 or 4 pills a
day. I take 2 fish oil capsules and that is it.

I'm glad you're not going to defend them. They're indefensible on so
many levels. Yes, they're the only ones capable, but they don't have
to do the orphan disease drugs for a profit. They could do them as
part of a regulatory requirement... funded, but no profit.


I'm not suggesting the gov't do the R&D. Rather the development should
be done in a similar way flu vaccines are created.

Somewhat dated, but here's a timeline...

http://www.influenza.com/images/timeline.gif

Flu vaccine that will be taken by tens of millions of people has
little to do with a drug made for a few thousand. You also grow a
vaccine from the cells of the virus you want to kill. It is not like a
chemical you have to make from scratch without really knowing what to
even start with.

Actually, it's quite similar, since the companies that make it don't
make much money at it. It's also similar in some respects to other
drugs. Many drugs are not "chemical" based alone. Do you think that
vaccines are pure bio agent?