from Hacker News

What good are whizzy new drugs if the world can't afford them?

by elektor on 6/21/24, 6:48 PM with 94 comments

  • by whimsicalism on 6/21/24, 7:19 PM

    The reality is that high drug prices are what incentivize companies to go through the process of creating/designing/trialing them. They will get cheaper with time as the techniques become commodities.

    The US should probably negotiate 'most favored nation' status so they get the lowest price offered among the OECD (maybe adjusted by national income per capita) such that there is less global free ridership - but even that probably won't do that much to shift the cost burden.

    We should also invest in lowering the costs of drug design & trialing so we can lower the risk premium and startup cost.

  • by FredPret on 6/21/24, 7:18 PM

    Innovation and tech progress drive prices down over time.

    Nathan Rothschild, richest man in the world, died from an ailment that could be cured basically for free today using penicillin. But when penicillin came out, it was an expensive and "whizzy" new drug.

  • by elektor on 6/21/24, 6:48 PM

  • by darth_avocado on 6/21/24, 7:21 PM

    I don’t have a problem when drugs for some obscure rare disease have an astronomical price tag associated with it. The problem starts when the cost of developing a cure for them is used as an excuse to charge $200 for a bag of saline. We have the best care in the world, but for when things go terribly wrong. And most people can barely afford it. Meanwhile, the primary care and basic affordable care is lacking.

  • by HybridCurve on 6/21/24, 7:34 PM

    I just paid $5.3k in the US for four 350mg doses of Albendazole (antiparasitic). This medication is something like $2 or less anywhere else in the world. This is not simply a problem with new drugs, but lack of pricing regulations from the federal government enabling pharma companies to fleece patients and insurance providers.

  • by aantix on 6/21/24, 7:18 PM

    "Never have the limitations of existing insurance and payment models been more evident. "

    Is the limitation really the payment model?

    They're having trouble keeping up with demand, even at the current high prices.

    It appears that the innovation has to occur at scaling the manufacturing.

  • by boringg on 6/21/24, 7:15 PM

    Maybe pharmaceutical companies should dial back their return expectations.

  • by ianferrel on 6/21/24, 7:19 PM

    Couldn't you write this about almost any technological innovation?

    Traditionally, avant garde tech is very expensive and available in limited quantities, then prices come down and things become more broadly affordable.

    Every drug was a whizzy new drug at some point. Most of them are now common and affordable. The people who the drug will help cheaply in 20 years will benefit greatly.

  • by 1vuio0pswjnm7 on 6/22/24, 7:41 AM

  • by hackeraccount on 6/22/24, 11:38 AM

    Is there an example of a drug that hasn't gotten cheaper over time?

  • by peter-m80 on 6/24/24, 8:26 AM

    "The world" !== USA

  • by cyanydeez on 6/21/24, 10:17 PM

    As long as theres a bilionaire who can, who gives a shit about the world

  • by JohnMakin on 6/21/24, 7:21 PM

    “financial innovation” is a nice way to say “be less greedy”