US Government Working With Pharma Companies To Raise Drug Prices In Other Countries
from the health-comes-second... dept
A series of stories from Jamie Love at KEI highlight the troubling cozy relationship between pharmaceutical companies and the US government in trying to raise drug prices in other countries -- which very likely will come at the expense of the health of citizens in those countries. The first is about the USTR and its position that drugs in Taiwan are too cheap:The United States has also continued to engage Taiwan on concerns raised by the pharmaceutical and medical device industries that Taiwan's procedures for medical product pricing and reimbursement fail to adequately recognize the value of innovative medical products for patients in Taiwan.Read that again, because that's a pretty scary statement. Yes, Taiwan has worked hard to make sure that health care is affordable in that country, and the USTR is acting on behalf of corporate interests to tell them that's a mistake. Wow.
Then, over in India, it appears that the USPTO is putting on co-branded events with Pfizer about drugs, health care and patents. Along with this, Love points to growing concerns from folks in India about a project between George Washington University and various pharmaceutical companies to "train" Indian politicians and judges on the importance of patents in pharma. Except, of course, that's very much in dispute. Many studies have shown that patents on pharma do more harm than good -- especially in countries with big healthcare issues.
There are plenty of important issues to debate over health care and patents, but it seems quite troubling when the US seems to have pretty much let the pharmaceutical companies run the entire debate.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: india, patents, pharmaceuticals, taiwan, us government, us pto, ustr
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Sigh...
"A series of stories from Jamie Love at KEI highlight the troubling cozy relationship between pharmaceutical companies and the US government in trying to raise drug prices in other countries"
This is only surprising if you haven't been paying attention to the membership of the CFR. Of note in this case:
1. Co-Chair Carla Hills, former US Trade Rep
2. Co-Chair Robert Rubin, former Sec. of the Treasury
3. President Richard Haass, former Dir. of Policy Planning
for the State Dept.
4. Membership in their "Directors" list include: Madeline
Albright, Tom Brokaw, Richard Holbrooke (Top American
Diplomat for Obama), Colin Powell, David Rockefeller
and Fareed Zakaria
---And that's just in their leadership/directors. You begin to see how this is a group made up of influential politicians and media members. Now for the pertinent corporate membership---
5. GlaxoSmithKline
6. Pfizer
7. Merck & Co., Inc.
8. Virtually every law firm that would represent them, media
group that would report on them, bank that would loan
money to them (and sit on their boards), and investment
firm that would provide capital to them (and sit on their
boards)
And remember, this group, whether you believe they are engaged in some of the globalist things I do or not, is called the Council on FOREIGN RELATIONS, chaired by media, govt., ex-govt., and industry.
I would say that the concept of industry envading our foreign policy is a foregone conclusion....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Sigh...
meanwhile, how to get them out/who to replace them with?
corrupt industries are so entrenched I don't see a lot of good come out of them.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Sigh...
Beyond outright revolution? No idea. If you actually take a look at how many people in this small group of about 200-400 members (depending on the year) have served in official positions within the govt., usually fairly high ranking, the probability statistics become absolutely absurd.
I have no idea if the author is aware of it, but there is an excellent overview of the CFR posted at this link, which is an excerpt from his book, Rule By Secrecy:
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/sociopol_rulebysecrecy1.htm#002
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Sigh...
The issue is with the policymakers that actually do it, and since they are allowed to intervene they will obviously do so in the manner that will garner them the greatest rewards and influence. The CFR is a convenient excuse to do so, but blaming US policy on CFR is scapegoating.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Sigh...
That makes sense, until you realize how many public officials, some elected but most appointed, that were or are CFR members there are. The probability of someone being a member of that group and then BECOMING a public official is absolutely ridiculous. For example:
"Once the ruling members of the CFR have decided that the U.S. Government should adopt a particular policy, the very substantial research facilities of CFR are put to work to develop arguments, intellectual and emotional, to support the new policy, and to confound and discredit, intellectually and politically, any opposition," - Admiral Chester Ward, former Judge Advocate of the US Navy and longtime CFR member
"Ideas put forward tentatively in this journal (Foreign Affairs, produced by the CFR) often, if well received by the Foreign Affairs community, appear later as U.S. government policy or legislation; prospective policies that fail this test usually disappear." - Encyclopedia Britannica
"The historical record speaks even more loudly. . . . Through 1988, 14 secretaries of state, 14 treasury secretaries, 11 defense secretaries and scores of other federal department heads have been CFR members." - Journalist James Perloff
"Nearly every CIA director since Allen Dulles has been a CFR member, including Richard Helms, William Colby, George Bush, William Webster, James Woolsey, John Deutsch, and William Casey." - Author Jim Marrs
"There really was not a dime’s worth of difference [between presidential candidates]. Voters were given the choice between CFR world government advocate Nixon and CFR world government advocate Humphrey. Only the rhetoric was changed to fool the public." - Author Gary Allen
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Sigh...
Say you replaced the CFR's members with a bunch of consumer proponents. Is this gonna make much difference? Are policymakers suddenly going to change their policy because the CFR is who it is, or are they going to look elsewhere for an excuse that better reflects their own priorities and profit motives, such as the new organization that all the ex-CFR members joined?
As far as I can tell, the CFR has no specific powers to make or alter policy beyond that politicians are in-step with it as an excuse to implement policy that is contrary to the best interests of the country, and they could use any excuse they want until they're called on it. Unlike, say, the Fed or Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, which are very much quasi-governmental organizations that not only cater to politicians but also retain governmental powers or funding.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Sigh...
Ah, okay, then we agree. You're right, the CFR as an institution is not the problem, it's what the members of that institution are doing.
What I disagree with is your assertion that it's the policy makers and not the CFR members that are the problem. My issue is that all the evidence I'm seeing points to the fact that the policy makers and CFR members are the exact same people.
"the CFR has no specific powers to make or alter policy beyond that politicians are in-step with it as an excuse to implement policy that is contrary to the best interests of the country"
I think you've reached the wrong conclusion. The CFR appears to be not the excuse policy makers use for their legislation, but rather the impetus of that legislation to start with. And THAT'S the issue, that a group of industry giants is members of the same group of policy makers and media companies and personalities (that are forbidden from covering the CFR, btw) are essentially constructing foreign policy, which is why I related this to the original article to begin with.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Sigh...
But still, where we differ - and we've discussed this several times so I feel sometimes like it's a fundamental agree-to-disagree paradigm dichotomy - is that by eliminating the CFR we would be doing any good. We can eliminate all the special interest groups that influence policy, but nothing will really change. You would still have a system where policymakers are offering policy to the highest bidder, and the highest bidder will be the entity(ies) most directly and financially affected by them - which will always be the special interests because the public individually is not affected to nearly the same degree.
Therefore, tear down all these constructs like the CFR and more will just pop up(maybe in totally different forms, but nevertheless mechanisms to transfer wealth and influence from interests to policymakers) as long as the best way to increase one's share of the pie(and to protect one's existing share) is to buy a Congressman. The only way to actually prevent corporatism without completely screwing over the economy and all the phenomenal benefits competition brings the public is to change the incentives such that profits are made by market competition and not by lobbying. And the only way to do that is to remove the government's intervention, such that there is no point in lobbying for what cannot be given.
Anyway, that's my long-winded explanation (yet again) for why I'm not surprised and not incensed so much as jaded by yet another example of cronyism. I don't think treating the symptoms gets us anywhere, and changing laws and regulations to restrict the few only restricts the freedoms of all while leaving corruption to manifest in another way. Sorta like DRM or suing file sharers, actually.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Sigh...
I tend to agree with your philosophy. The solution is that the public must be more proactive and this proactive nature must continue in perpetuation. Policy makers are afraid of a public that votes against them, the public must be informed about the laws to some degree and must actively vote out policy makers that grant monopolies, ESPECIALLY ones on communication.
"And the only way to do that is to remove the government's intervention, such that there is no point in lobbying for what cannot be given."
Exactly, and that requires VOTERS to be ACTIVE in ensuring that governments can't grant patents, cableco/telco monopolies, Taxi Cab monopolies, post office monopolies, etc... I completely agree. We as voters need to have a very strong anti - monopoly attitude.
However, that's not to say that all monopolies are bad. I do think that some copyrights and patents on certain things for SHORT periods of time (and certainly not the ridiculous laws we have now) can cause some good. However, the laws today are so absurd I see no reason to defend such a position.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Sigh...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Sigh...
Just like the constitution ensures the freedom of speech to all individuals and makes such freedoms difficult to remove from the constitution, what we need to do is pass difficult to remove laws that prevents governments from granting gableco/telco monopolies, monopolies on cableco/telco infrastructure, that ensures health freedoms, that limits the ability of patents and copyrights to take away our freedoms and that actually limits such constructs to a specified SHORT period of time, laws that prohibit (federal, state, and local) governments from granting taxi cab monopolies, from granting mail delivery monopolies (ie: the post office has a monopoly on who can deliver mail to your mailbox), and basically more difficult to remove laws that ensure individual freedoms that can not be taken away.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Sigh...
"Ignore the man behind the curtain", eh?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Sigh...
Albright, Tom Brokaw, Richard Holbrooke (Top American
Diplomat for Obama), Colin Powell, David Rockefeller
and Fareed Zakaria"
hmmmm ... where have I seen that list before??? Sounds like the guest list at a certain Top Secret annual meeting of the rulers of "free" men.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Down with IP laws as they are
The original idea behind trademarks is still good though. Preventing consumer confusion is never a bad idea, but a lot of lawsuits related to trademarks these days are out of hand. Just like Copyright and Patent laws are way out of hand.
The times have changed, and people need to adapt.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
Necessity is the mother of invention, and when something is needed somebody finds a way to invent it--money or no money.
Perhaps you have your causal reality inverted...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
Nice try, they don't want to lower our prices on these drugs while raising them elsewhere. There would be NO balancing of pricing. they simply want to raise the prices in other countries to improve their profit margin.
IF there were price leveling, I would have no problem with raising prices (slightly) in those countries as well as lowering them slightly in the US and others. But they wouldn't do that. All they care about is improving their bottom line, not helping people be healthy.
Don't think for a minute that this would have ANY effect on drug prices in the US or other 'developed' countries.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
This is about money at best, and foreign population control at worst....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
1) The most expensive part of the research is largely paid for with our tax dollars, then later monetized for large corporations.
2) What research the corporations actually do tends to be limited to highly profitable, largely made-up or exaggerated conditions that don't actually require medication. They don't waste their research dollars on cheap, effective medications for diseases that don't primarily affect rich people.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Good luck with that last bit
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Good luck with that last bit
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Love this part.
English translation..
1. They dont understand how much PEOPLE will pay to make themselves HEALTHY.
2. PROFIT, MORE MONEY, PAY ME.
Im sorry that the USA corp attitudes are spreading across this world.
USA corps are only middle men.
They make nothing, they HAVE IT MADE..
Then shipped to the USA..
Then price it AS IF' it was made in the USA.. By Union labor making premium pay.
what would cost $50 in Taiwan, is sold in the USA at $200-400.
Other nations LOVE the USA, as markups are so high. They will make things in their OWN nation, but they WONT sell them there. They cant make as much money as in OTHER nations.
we already know that drugs are a SUPERIOR market. the Profit margin in drugs is 100-1000 times the cost of the drug.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Love this part.
English translation..
Taiwan's procedures for medical product pricing and reimbursement fail to adequately take advantage of and exploit patients in Taiwan.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The pharmaceutical companies are getting exactly what they paid for.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
About Damn time!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
And.. Amen to that, lol
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
PBS in Oz
Big Pharma didn't like that idea much and tried to push for 'real-cost' prescriptions in the FTA. Australia just told them to bugger off. Health care is for everyone, not just the rich.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
they wont lower ANY prices..
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
and it begins
the scientists that invent for the love of discovery and helping those they use science for.
OH wait not on this planet ya dont
NOPE more people die because of the greed of the USA then they can kill with the weapons they use.
and yup only to make more money and to bribe off the leaderships of those countries , ya know i can feel that this direction is gonna lead to some real nastey revolutions in the future and the fat cats wont be able to stop it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: and it begins
NOPE more people die because of the greed of the USA then they can kill with the weapons they use."
Sigh, look, I joke in generalities all the time, but kindly do not lump all Americans or even all of our politicians in with our foreign policy and economic decision making. The two often have very little to do with one another....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
You mean to brainwash them into believing a lie.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Research will start to be done in other countries, Brazil, India and Taiwan are top class bio-engineering barns. Everything that can be done in the U.S. those countries can also do, and that scares big pharma.
Erosion of that market share will come about to them as it came to other sectors of the U.S. industrial park, because their focuses is not in competition but restricting others to benefit supposedly American interests. This is not the route to take it leads to bad things and definitely is not in the best interests of the American people.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
If You Want
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
USTR
The USTR is part of the Executive Office of the President, the same president that is currently pretending to be working to lower costs and bring health care to Americans. A wolf in sheep's clothing?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Taking the P out of Intellectual PROPERTY
I recently heard a great idea about wrapping an opt-in revenue stream around the as-is system.
1. you opt-in
2. sell your medication at cost
3. then receive a proportion of a big government-funded pool of $$$ based on the number of units you sell
Look for a Philosopher's Zone podcast called "The right to property and the right to health" dated 6th Feb 2010.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Taking the P out of Intellectual PROPERTY
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
its STILL the same problem
BLAME others for your problems, just a Rulers do. Its not my FAULT..money money money.
You see others making money, so you want your PART of it..
So you grab them and kill them or ABSORB them into your corp..MONEY MONEY MONEY..
Its the same with Pirates.
there are 2 types.
1a does it for the fun/entertainment/challenge..
1b does it for MONEY
1b love 1a, and loves his work. But if he could he would HIRE him to help with his work. But as long as he isnt taking MONEY from 1b pocket, he will let it happen.
As soon as others know of 1a, 1b might get upset. HIRE him or KILL HIM..
Lets look at Ma bell, and the gov break up of the Bell system. Did it work? not after a time. They buy each other back and forth and its STILL the same people.
How about the TV corps. There are only 4-5 that own ALL OF IT.
How many companies control the seed crops around the world?? 3-4..most are owned by MONSANTO..
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: its STILL the same problem
If the government didn’t grant monopoly power on infrastructure and allowed anyone to either use existing infrastructure or to build new infrastructure then these corporations can buy each other until they buy each other out of business. The moment they try to exploit their monopoly power past a certain point new competitors will enter the market and take over. It’s the government that creates the lack of competition.
Without patents Monsanto would be nothing. I couldn’t understand much of your post. While I do think SOME IP is good, I think our current laws are absolutely absurd. IP should be the exception, NOT the rule, and a twenty year monopoly is too long.
As for the rest of the post, I’m not sure I understand it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
LETS SEE
"If the government didn’t grant monopoly power on infrastructure and allowed anyone to either use existing infrastructure or to build new infrastructure then these corporations can buy each other until they buy each other out of business. The moment they try to exploit their monopoly power past a certain point new competitors will enter the market and take over. It’s the government that creates the lack of competition."
a CORP THAT sits over the top and buying and selling, as they like.
Hmm, still sounds like a corp to me.
tHE REST YOU ARE CORRECT IN.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: its STILL the same problem
I would argue that it worked to a degree that I thought impossible. Not perfectly, but have you forgotten the way it was before the breakup?
Phone service, particularly long distance, was insanely expensive. Only Ma Bell could make devices that attached to the phone line, so those devices sucked. You didn't own any phone equipment (such as the telephone) yourself. You leased it. And so on.
These are things which are greatly improved now.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: its STILL the same problem
But have you looked at your phone bill in the last 10 years?
10 years ago, BASE price was $23
NOW base price is $30
This goes about electrical also..
But how many telephone poles and Updated hardware have you seen installed? replacing/upgrading a relay station is not a small thing. The one in my town hasnt been upgraded in 30 years. The Power relay station hasnt been touched in 40 years.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Adjusted for inflation
NOW base price is $30"
But let's adjust these for inflation. If you adjust $23 in 2000 to today's dollars, it comes out to $28.94.
So, I suppose you have a point. We are paying $1.06 more per month now.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
it's a good thing
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Patents and pharma
Here we have an oversimplification:
"Many studies have shown that patents on pharma do more harm than good -- especially in countries with big healthcare issues."
Many studies have shown that oversimplification (the half-truth) does more harm than a falsehood.
Here, with respect to large entity patenting (so-called "defensive" patenting, where the intent is to make patents too expensive to contest), ABSOLUTE AGREEMENT!
But, if I find a way to make a medicine, etc., and I have to put out some money to perfect it (or prove it is safe and effective) but with no way to protect myself from, say, Pfizer, the world will just have to suffer.
If, on the other hand, I can get a small entity patent (no more than a few thousand to protect myself from, say, Pfizer, while I perfect it) and find some way to market that invention (and ALL IP should be INVENTIONS; that is, active use rather than filed paperwork) the world will benefit from my invention; because I may get my investment back, and hopefully make some money (and help others).
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Why have you heard very little about how the govt. will lower healthcare costs here in the US in the current debate? Because once govt. is paying for it drug prices (and everything else) will be lowered here in the US. If you don't think this is true then you are really stupid.
The govt. currently is the largest payor in the US, do you think you can walk into a doctors office and be treated for the same price as a Medicare recipient? I don't think so. Do you think you can buy prescription drugs cheaper than a Medicare recipient? It is actually against the law.
I have been waiting for Techdirts grand healthcare post but it seems you guys are slower than Congress.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]