Why are there not dozens of silicon valley startups springing up to 'disrupt' this market - clearly there are large margins to be made given the price is so much higher at the moment.
It sounds more like some regulatory capture has happened which is keeping prices artificially high, than that all other countries are artificially low.
This. Not sure if it's a system bug, or a feature: the system may have been designed for this to happen.
And what is the "fair and free" price of insulin?
Almost all wealthy countries except the US, use a single payer system where the government sets the price of drugs.
> And what is the "fair and free" price of insulin?
Free as a victim of diabetes, some marginal cost to the countries budget based on a negotiation with the pharma company.
Typically, because the country has enough scale, it is cost effective for the government to design and estimate costs for a government run facility to produce the drug and use that as a bargaining chip including if needed voiding the IP rights of that foreign entity for national defense reasons.
You got a link about that because I am super interested to read into that more. I believe india doesn't respect medical IP but I'm surprised first world countries that produce medical IP do and that the US apparently isn't ripping off foreign countries medical IP who do that in retaliation.
I haven't cross checked it, but it seems to state similar things to what I've heard before, like “compulsory licensing” which was only un-done because of NAFTA, but that just means its a political bargaining chip that is not currently cashed.
I'm sure other countries have different rules, Canada is more beholden to the US than any other country.
The problem is not that insurers in the US are not "big enough" to negotiate prices effectively.
One price is set artificially and it ain't the one you're thinking of.
Prices are always set to maximize profit, and what the customer is willing to pay you is the biggest factor in the equation.