How much the biggest pharmaceutical companies make every second

Paco Dennis

Paco Dennis

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Mid-Missouri
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https://www.insurist.com/studies-su...t-pharmaceutical-companies-make-every-second/
 

How much of the money do they say was used in R & D for new medicines? A good friend had a heart attack and is now on a life saving new drug that the pharma company paid for - otherwise he could never have afforded it.
 

ElCastor said:
Apparently the US pharmaceutical industry spends a few bucks of their evil profits on Research and Development.

Big Pharma dollars spent on R&D …
2019 $83 Billion
2020 $91.1 Billion
2021 $102.3 Billion
https://www.statista.com/statistics...pment-expenditure-us-pharmaceutical-industry/

A couple of medications they are rumored to be squandering our money on — Cancer vaccine and an Alzheimer treatment.
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AI should help expedite pharmaceutical R&D. Then they can lower the price of drugs! (Or increase bonuses to CEOs)
 
SeniorBen said:
AI should help expedite pharmaceutical R&D. Then they can lower the price of drugs! (Or increase bonuses to CEOs)
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The R&D billions that big Pharma spends on the development of cures and treatments is just an example of Free Enterprise at its performing as it should. Those companies compete to be the first and the best with a new sought after drug. If they get there before the competition they can rake in the dough. And like it or not we all benefit.

As for AI that‘s an interesting subject. When AI gets going full tilt it will replace a LOT of jobs. That‘s great but how we handle it is going to be interesting. Unless big Farma develops a cure for aging (which is being worked on) I doubt you and I will be around to see it. (-8
 
I was on an MS drug for 5 years. It started out at $900.00 a month. Every year it went up and ended at $1800.00 5 years later. It was replaced with a different drug that started out at $3500.00 a month and out up at $6000.00 4 years later. That was replaced by a once monthly infusion that cost $8000.00 at the beginning and ended at $18000.00 a month. Which was replaced by a twice a year treatment that started at $87,000 per treatment and has gone up every year. We used to be fed the line that drugs are the most expensive when first introduced. Then the price comes down. That is no longer true.

Obamacare failed to add cost controls to the law. We have seen nothing but run away costs ever since. Prior to Obamacare all parties agreed that cost controls had to be part of any US healthcare plan. Obviously that didn't happen once the drug companies, medical centers, and insurance companies teamed up and wrote the law for him.
 
Jamala said:
If they are saving your life... what does it matter how much they make!!!!
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Becky1951 said:
If you can afford them it doesn't matter, if not then it does matter.
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This is a tough one.

The cost of developing, manufacture, and delivery of the drugs have to be paid for somehow, if we want the drugs. 2022 was a very good year for big Pharma, but still profits were generally no more than about 20% (https://csimarket.com/Industry/industry_Profitability_Ratios.php?ind=803). Using that figure 80% of what we pay goes to cover the costs of getting the drugs to us. And I doubt cutting the price of drugs by 20% would make a huge difference in affordability.

Not allowing companies profit would degrade the companies and their ability to deliver drugs. I also suspect that with Covid 2022 was a high profit year for the drug companies, longer term I doubt its as high.

To make drugs affordable to people who cannot afford them would require some kind of government program subsidizing purchase. In the US we already have Medicare and Medicaid, and those don't seem to work real well. I have no solution, but agree with @Becky1951 it is a problem.

Y'all got any ideas?
 
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Wigglestein said:
I was on an MS drug for 5 years. It started out at $900.00 a month. Every year it went up and ended at $1800.00 5 years later. It was replaced with a different drug that started out at $3500.00 a month and out up at $6000.00 4 years later. That was replaced by a once monthly infusion that cost $8000.00 at the beginning and ended at $18000.00 a month. Which was replaced by a twice a year treatment that started at $87,000 per treatment and has gone up every year. We used to be fed the line that drugs are the most expensive when first introduced. Then the price comes down. That is no longer true.

Obamacare failed to add cost controls to the law. We have seen nothing but run away costs ever since. Prior to Obamacare all parties agreed that cost controls had to be part of any US healthcare plan. Obviously that didn't happen once the drug companies, medical centers, and insurance companies teamed up and wrote the law for him.
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What about the 535 members of congress, didn't they have a little bit to do with it too?
 
ElCastor said:
The R&D billions that big Pharma spends on the development of cures and treatments is just an example of Free Enterprise at its performing as it should. Those companies compete to be the first and the best with a new sought after drug. If they get there before the competition they can rake in the dough. And like it or not we all benefit.

As for AI that‘s an interesting subject. When AI gets going full tilt it will replace a LOT of jobs. That‘s great but how we handle it is going to be interesting. Unless big Farma develops a cure for aging (which is being worked on) I doubt you and I will be around to see it. (-8
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The problem with the free market when it comes to drugs is, many of the drugs are essential; people can't live without them, so the pharma companies can't charge pretty much whatever they want and people will still buy them. They don't have any choice. Patents prevent competition, which is at the heart of a free market system. Because the drugs are so expensive, insurance companies that have to pay the exorbitant costs, pass those costs onto policy holders or deny coverage. Or the government pays for the medication, in which case, we pay the cost through taxes.

And with all the money big pharma makes, they can't find cures for much of anything without the medications having side effects that are often worse than the symptoms. They rake in billions but can't even find a cure for the common cold! And they've been working a a cure for cancer for more than a century.

That said, I'm not sure what the solution is. And my dog needs a walk. :)
 
The United States and New Zealand are the only countries where drug makers are allowed to market prescription drugs directly to consumers. The U.S. consumer drug advertising boom on television began in 1997, when the FDA relaxed its guidelines relating to broadcast media.

https://www.goodrx.com/healthcare-a...e-expensive-in-the-us-than-in-other-countries

The above link explains why the US doesn't negotiate with drug companies. (I actually never knew this) of the 5 reasons. But #3 was kind of obvious.

Some prices were stunning to see. Take a look at Harvoni, a medication for hepatitis C. People in the U.S. paid $30,808 on average for a 28-day supply. Bet the insurance companies wish they'd invested in that stuff.

(EDIT) taking the $83 billion spent on research, for 1 year, of all pharmaceutical companies, that's like $2,631.9127346525 A second.
 
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Wigglestein said:
Certainly, enough blame to go around. The lobbyists favored both $ide$. This is the bill Nancy Pelosi said her famous line ..we have to pass it to find out what's in it.
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I'll admit, I wasn't pleased at people being forced to get insurance or you'd be fined, surprisingly many did pay the $695 as it was cheaper.

Now I find there's still states that are forcing people to insure.

Right now, there are five states and one district where health insurance is required. You may be subject to a tax penalty if you live in one of the following areas and do not have medical insurance coverage:

Massachusetts
New Jersey
Vermont
California
Rhode Island
District of Columbia (Washington D.C.)
 
Disgustedman said:
I'll admit, I wasn't pleased at people being forced to get insurance or you'd be fined, surprisingly many did pay the $695 as it was cheaper.

Now I find there's still states that are forcing people to insure.

Right now, there are five states and one district where health insurance is required. You may be subject to a tax penalty if you live in one of the following areas and do not have medical insurance coverage:

Massachusetts
New Jersey
Vermont
California
Rhode Island
District of Columbia (Washington D.C.)
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My husband was briefly unemployed and we had insurance that we paid $450.00 per person. Once the law passed we HAD to enter their Marketplace and choose a plan. We found our SAME plan but now it was $850.00 per person....but good news!!!! We qualified for a govt subsidy as did almost everyone. Our subsidy brought the cost down to $450..00 which we were paying prior. BUT. In mid December my husband got a job....and under the Obamacare law....because he got a job in the same calendar year....we had to repay all of the subsidies we had received. Oh and since the IRS were the enforcers of the law, they put a hold on any potential tax refund. So for two years they took our tax refund plus we had to pay more. So we had a plan we could afford, the law doubled the price, and messed up our tax filings that cost us $600 to hire an accountant to fix, annually.
 
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