Originally posted by zgendron:

Your facts are a little wrong here. Canada has cheap drugs because they are Government regulated. The same companies that sell the drug here, sell the drug in bulk to the Canadian Government to distribute.

Yes, the reason drug prices are higher here is to pay for the R&D.

However, your anger is very misguided.





My anger toward that pompous ass is most certainly not misguided...

And I am CORRECT in my accessment that Canada and many others gets a free ride on drug costs...Companies are motivated to make NEW drugs by PROFIT. Profit for a new AIDS drug is very large IF you can recoupe by selling large volumes at high prices. This occurs in the US (via the VAST deep taxpayer pockets of the Ryan White funds/ AIDS drug assistance programs or "ADAP") and to a lesser extent in Europe. It does NOT occur in Canada with less that 1/10 the HIV population as in the US and much less profit per presciption becasue of lower prices.

WITHOUT the US market, I guarentee you that Canadian drugs would be either MUCH more expensive (because they had to do the R&D) or much less available (because it was not profitable to make the drug...it costs in excess of 50-100++ million to go from test tube to market per drug). Simply put..your "Government regulation" is not what is bringing costs down, rather that Canada gets drug much closer to cost because its an easy way for US based companies to make a few extra bux since R&D is already done. SOoooo.. for that jerk to try and imply that Canada has some moral high ground in this, was a total crock (note that many of us in the meeting are involved in R&D), not to mention downplaying what we HAVE done..

ALOT of Americans are fed up with this system where developed countries obtain drug at much lower prices than in the US and talk about legislation to begin to address this is becoming quite common. I hope the free ride is coming to an end.

And don't get me started about Canada's national heath care system..do you want to know how many MDs from Canada I work with...and why they left. And why people with bux leave Canada and come to the US for heath care. And why not a single person I have heard of has gone TO Canada for health care..

I am still not saying that the majority of Canadians are this "misguided".. But as I said, I am concerned about some of the leadership as you appear to worry about ours.

Last edited by Dan Nixon; 05/07/04 09:22 PM.
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