Dr. Lucky Tran 
Gilead has announced that lenacapavir, the game-changing HIV prevention drug just approved by the FDA will cost $28,218 USD per person per year.
Researchers say a generic version could be made for just $25 per person a year.
Capitalism kills.
pmonks (330ppm)@luckytran Of course a generic version could be manufactured more cheaply - those companies don’t incur much if any R&D, clinical trial, regulatory approval, etc. costs.
And before anyone accuses me of living at the opposite end of the spectrum, no I don’t think drug developers should be able to generate massive profits off their IP in perpetuity either. But the cost of development is real, substantial (especially due to the large %age of R&D failures that we never hear about), and has to be amortised somehow or else drug innovation will halt.
Kris Hardy@pmonks @luckytran Many of these costs are often funded by NIH contracts. I haven't gone through to see how much of US taxpayer dollars have already gone into it's development, and Gilead hasn't published their ROI AFAIK, so it is currently impossible to tell whether the price is reasonable or not. And THAT is a huge problem.
The Doctor
unlofl [Promoted Toot]@drwho @nonlinear @pmonks @luckytran and marketing is frequently a bigger part of their capital expenditures than research.
If we ban drug ads, then they'd be able to make drugs without gouging us /s
@unlofl @nonlinear @pmonks @luckytran Depends on the company. Not long ago I was part of a captive audience when Dr. John LaMattina spoke. Cutting out the "we do it for the people" bullshit (because it was eye rollingly bullshit), his argument boiled down to "companies exist to make money. If we can't make money, you can't live."
@drwho @unlofl @nonlinear @luckytran Absolutely depends on the company, and yes, making money is a powerful motivator in the economic system in which I (and I assume you) exist. I personally have no problem when that motivator is leveraged in a controlled manner so that smart people are able to invent lifesaving drugs, devices, and procedures that otherwise wouldn’t exist.