Yes @Silentobserver im still a free-marketeer but 40x production cost for a drug that means life or death? They should burn in hell.
Hey @Canes51 
fake news? Or you ok with this one?
Without knowing the details of the market as well as what laws are in place that essentially limits competition (basically I don’t know the whole story), I would argue that this 40x mark up isn’t a result of the free market but the result of government intervention which has created this fabricated market space that enables Merk to do this.
@GardenStateCane - unfortunately, there are plenty of stories of drug companies charging beyond ridiculous amounts of money for drugs - especially for life saving drugs. I have a nephew with a nut allergy and must have an epipen available at all times. The price has been steadily increasing for no apparent reason.
How the government hasn’t cracked down on this is appalling, IMO. I get capitalism, but to me this isn’t that. It’s price gouging. After a hurricane rolls through you can’t sell bottles of water to desperate people for $20 each. So how is buying the rights to a drug that normally sold for $5 a pill and immediately increase it to $300 a pill?
I don’t know how those people sleep at night.
This is a deal that the government negotiated. Serious question, do you think Trump would’ve allowed Merck to charge his government 40 X on manufacturing costs?
Yes. They’ve been getting away with this shit for years.
It’s both, because obviously the capitalist side of the equation wants to gouge as much as they can, and sometimes all the “government intervention” they need is a patent.
Medicine in this country needs to be reformed. Prescriptions are one of the biggest rackets in this country, run by literal cartels.