Medical innovation is funded by IP protection in the target audience's country. Here in Canada we get to benefit from the research in at a huge discount, but that's only because we share demographics with the country actually paying for it.
Consider how treatment for Malaria stalled all these years... no profit motive means limited funding.
The rest of us get cheap drugs at fixed prices because "big pharma" base their R&D funding decisions on US needs... we're just lucky to get the spillover.
When US starts fixing prices, where will "big pharma" direct their research?
mmpleaser 发表于 2017-7-31 02:20
May be China , Singapore (already biotech, vs chemical research), India. Right. Lower cost, less ...
Makes sense... lower R&D costs, profit motive... plus relatively weak IP protection against copy catting means it'll be most profitable to pick fast-turnover projects (e.g. adapting a new vaccine) over long-term research, and try to squeeze as much $ out of the market as quickly as possible before a copycat comes along.
rainq 发表于 2017-7-31 08:58
Makes sense... lower R&D costs, profit motive... plus relatively weak IP protection against copy c ...
Actually the only strong IP protection is in US and Developed countries (including Canada).
That is different from prices which could be negotiated based on 2 cents for the 2nd pill.
Everything US big pharma can sell anywhere is gravy once they have the US market. But things are going to change due to cost of health care (including drugs and medical devices). So other countries may need to contribute to the development costs.