Manufacture cheap AIDS drugs now
Right on! I agree with Brazil and Argentina. I love how the pharmaceuticals always complain that they can't afford more R&D without charging high prices for drugs. Now, I know that Abbott wants to charge Brazil $1.17 per pill for Kaletra, a protease inhibitor. However, Brazil could produce it for 41 cents per pill. So, Abbott has imposed a HUGE markup relative to Brazil's cost of production.
People, this is where I will point out "capitalist" hypocrisy. I say "capitalist" because I am not against capitalism. However, in most cases capitalism permits an all out battle in the market. Patents and the like are akin to welfare. I'm not against protecting one's livelihood with safeguards like patents, but then "capitalists" can't complain about social programs either. Yet they do. But I digress. Capitalism means that Brazil and Argentina certainly can produce whatever they like and distribute it to their own citizens. Hell, they can even sell it to other countries. Capitalism also means that Abbott must take heed of this threat to produce Kaletra at a much lower price and drop their price. Notice the article mentions that Abbott dropped it to $1.17 for this very reason. That's economics. That's the power of the consumer.
You see, peeps, markets are not one-sided phenomena where the producer issues decrees to the consumer. You guys can actually control things too. Use that power more often.
People, this is where I will point out "capitalist" hypocrisy. I say "capitalist" because I am not against capitalism. However, in most cases capitalism permits an all out battle in the market. Patents and the like are akin to welfare. I'm not against protecting one's livelihood with safeguards like patents, but then "capitalists" can't complain about social programs either. Yet they do. But I digress. Capitalism means that Brazil and Argentina certainly can produce whatever they like and distribute it to their own citizens. Hell, they can even sell it to other countries. Capitalism also means that Abbott must take heed of this threat to produce Kaletra at a much lower price and drop their price. Notice the article mentions that Abbott dropped it to $1.17 for this very reason. That's economics. That's the power of the consumer.
You see, peeps, markets are not one-sided phenomena where the producer issues decrees to the consumer. You guys can actually control things too. Use that power more often.
posted by Laurelle St. Laurent at 10:37 a.m.
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