Quote:
Originally Posted by fatnoah
My wife works in a regulartory compliance role for a drug manufacturer that specializes in rare diseases, such as things that only a few thousand people have worldwide. Don't get me wrong, these companies are out to make money, but they are made up of people dedicated to curing these illnesses.
Unfortunately, drugs are very expensive to develop. In addition to scientists, companies have teams of lawyers and other regulatory specialists to ensure the companies don't run afoul of FDA regulations that govern every possible aspect of creating and marketing drugs, right down to the punctuation in an ad.
One of the drugs my wife works on showed promise in treating adult leukemia. After over $100 million spent on mandated studies, the FDA panel decided in a 7-5 vote that more studies were needed. Cost of additional studies: roughly $40 million.
The system is broken, that's for sure, but it's the WHOLE system, not just hostpitals or insurance companies.
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Fatnoah, I could not have said it better myself. I am also employed by a major pharmaceutical company. At my location, we make a couple drugs that have a very limited market. Millions were spent on R & D, getting the necessary approvals, and we still spend millions to make the product. Does the company make $$? Of course they do. But it isn't at a huge profit, as some would like to believe.