[rayiner]

Drugs cost money to produce. Pharma R&D spending has gone up by a factor of 10 since 1980, to almost $90 billion/year. And manufacturing, sales, distribution, etc., aren’t free. EBITDA margins in the industry are typically under 30%. And drugs are just 10% of health care spending. When a cancer or heart attack patient survives instead of dying immediately, they need decades of doctors visits, nursing care, etc.

[iqkznnft]

I think that when people complain about the cost of health care, they're not talking about things which cost a lot to produce. They're taking about things that cost almost nothing to produce, but are priced outrageously because of some wonky market dynamics

[tptacek]

The second pill costs almost nothing to produce. The first pill costs billions, plural, and the successful minority of new drugs have to foot the bill for all the unsuccessful first pills.

[iqkznnft]

I'm talking about pills developed in the 50s, and which cost nothing to manufacture, and almost given away in most of the world except in the USA.

[hollerith]

Which pills developed in the 50s cost much more in the US than in the rest of the world?

[iqkznnft]

Ask Martin Shkreli.

[tptacek]

A cartoon villain, to be sure, and a legitimate target for public policy interventions, but pretty clearly not an indication of why US health care costs so much; he managed to price those drugs specifically because they were a corner-case for the pharma industry.