Global health agencies announced Wednesday that generic versions of a groundbreaking injectable drug to prevent HIV will be made available from 2027 at around $40 a year in more than 100 low and middle-income…
But thanks to RFK and Trump, there will be no more drugs like this in the future. Gilead did the trials, but 95% of the effort behind this was NIH funded. We can’t even guess how many game changing drugs have been cut in 2025.
As always Trump completely misunderstands the situation. Yes there’s a point in how exepnsive drugs are in the us, especially relative to other countries. But whether it’s manufactured in the us has almost nothing to do with it.
The problem is recovering all the development costs from American patients, and more recently just charging what they think the market will bear. We have to fix the complex maze of healthcare and all the levels of profiteering, we have to fix how development costs can be recovered and most of all we need to fix charging what the market will bear. Has everyone already forgotten the outcry over insulin a few years ago. A ceo who should be in jail decided to start charging ten or twenty times the cost, because he could, because us patients are a captive market. Then got away with saying “some of you can use these coupons….”. There’s definitely a point where exploitive business practices have crossed the line and should be considered criminal acts
The problem is recovering all the development costs
Yeeeaaahhh, but no.
There is also a huge amount of plain greed in there, drug companies aren’t exactly known for being very generous to put it mildly. Cost of healthcare in the US is beyond insanely expensive and that isn’t just because Americans are rich, the vast majority aren’t and for many, getting sick is not only a death sentence, it’s also a death sentence to the family as they’ll be stuck with the medical bills that will bankrupt them.
The US healthcare system is beyond fucked up with corruption and just plain extortion. Wanna live? Say, that’s a nice first born you have there!
The issue here is that the bigger insurance companies literally set the prices for services and drugs.
You wanna keep doing business with United, you charge them what they’re willing to pay, otherwise they’ll just reject claims or put you out of network altogether.
Makes you wonder if Trump has a point.
But thanks to RFK and Trump, there will be no more drugs like this in the future. Gilead did the trials, but 95% of the effort behind this was NIH funded. We can’t even guess how many game changing drugs have been cut in 2025.
As always Trump completely misunderstands the situation. Yes there’s a point in how exepnsive drugs are in the us, especially relative to other countries. But whether it’s manufactured in the us has almost nothing to do with it.
The problem is recovering all the development costs from American patients, and more recently just charging what they think the market will bear. We have to fix the complex maze of healthcare and all the levels of profiteering, we have to fix how development costs can be recovered and most of all we need to fix charging what the market will bear. Has everyone already forgotten the outcry over insulin a few years ago. A ceo who should be in jail decided to start charging ten or twenty times the cost, because he could, because us patients are a captive market. Then got away with saying “some of you can use these coupons….”. There’s definitely a point where exploitive business practices have crossed the line and should be considered criminal acts
Drug development in trials costs $120-200M. Upon approval, Pharma expects $15B +.
They have proven they would rather a drug not save lives than offer lower profits.
if a product can be sold at 10 times the profit to one fifth the people only an idiot would not rase prices ten fold
Yeeeaaahhh, but no.
There is also a huge amount of plain greed in there, drug companies aren’t exactly known for being very generous to put it mildly. Cost of healthcare in the US is beyond insanely expensive and that isn’t just because Americans are rich, the vast majority aren’t and for many, getting sick is not only a death sentence, it’s also a death sentence to the family as they’ll be stuck with the medical bills that will bankrupt them.
The US healthcare system is beyond fucked up with corruption and just plain extortion. Wanna live? Say, that’s a nice first born you have there!
I’ve encountered this: This treatment is $10,000 if you pay out of pocket, but we’ll charge your insurance company $680 for it.
The issue here is that the bigger insurance companies literally set the prices for services and drugs.
You wanna keep doing business with United, you charge them what they’re willing to pay, otherwise they’ll just reject claims or put you out of network altogether.
It’s FUBAR.