FDA rules giving exclusive rights to one drugmaker send prices skyward
By Jane M. Orient
Washington Times
Excerpts:
As though double-digit increases in insurance premiums weren’t enough, how about triple-digit cost inflation for drugs? It is really simple to do, and the U.S. Senate is about to do it.
If you’re a drug manufacturer, and you’d like to make 100 times more than a person would otherwise have to pay for a drug, get Congress to expand the tremendous power of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), perhaps already the most powerful anti-competitive force on the planet.
S. 959 would forbid compounding pharmacies to copy FDA-approved but nonpatented medicines. One such medicine is 17 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone (17P), which is a synthetic form of the female hormone progesterone. Compounding pharmacies currently provide this medication at an affordable cost to thousands of pregnant women who are prone to premature delivery. The compounded version costs as little as $15 per injection. The price for the manufactured one rocketed to $690 when the FDA awarded exclusive manufacturing rights to K-V Pharmaceuticals. The cost per pregnancy would rise from $300 to an unaffordable $30,000.
Pregnant women who can’t pay it are likely to lose babies who might be normal and healthy if birth could be a little delayed. For some, insurance might cover the cost, but why should insurance subscribers have to pay this through their premiums? And why should state Medicaid programs pay 100 times as much?
S. 959 would make much-needed medical care unaffordable or unavailable to Americans while empowering unaccountable bureaucrats and enriching crony special interests.
Dr. Jane M. Orient practices internal medicine in Tucson, Ariz., and is executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons.
Read the Full Article Here: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jul/5/how-to-make-a-300-drug-cost-30000/
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