Hacker News Reader

Comment by ein0p | Hacker News Reader

There's no need to spend unfathomable amounts. We just need to establish and enforce the favored nation status if they want to sell their drugs here. No drug (least of all US developed drug) should cost more in the US than it does elsewhere. That's what Trump was proposing in his last term. Because the Congress is corrupt AF, that went nowhere, but maybe we could give it another try now that his mandate is much stronger? As things currently are, we're getting robbed.

View on HN

What about poor countries? If a drug company had to sell drugs for the same price in the US and a country like Sudan, the result would almost certainly be raising the price in Sudan up to US prices rather than lowering the price in the US to Sudan prices.

That would put the drug out of reach of most of the people in those poor countries.

They can do what India and some other countries do, and legislatively ignore pharmaceutical patents when it comes to public health if drug is deemed unaffordable.

I mean, I don't think you're enforcing patent law in South Sudan regardless, but they're also just not capable of manufacturing such drugs. To get a trustworthy drug, they pretty much have to buy it from the patent-holder. India, China, and maybe Brazil are about the only exceptions. Theoretically, I guess you could say we just expect the third-world to rely on black market medicine from India, but uh, that has some risks involved.

Is it really the black market?

It just sounds like it's sourced from somewhere else like any generic would be.

IMO the state should be able to take away monopolies just as easily as it passes them out in the first place.

They could benchmark the price against comparable countries/regions. Pay no more than, say, 110% of the average cost of the drug in Europe.

If it still has to go through congress you still have the same problem.

This will just make it impossible for poor countries to get drugs.

Or we can offer to take Greenland off the table /s

It's not on the table in the first place. Trump is just forcing fake news MSM to talk about BS to disorient them and make it harder to attack his transition. Expect more of this - he seems to be advised by someone competent this time.