That's just the saddest thing ever, a drug company putting profit before people. This isn't a new concept. It's been going on since forever – as far back as when the first miracle drug (penicillin) came out. It's just that the greedy grubbing for money is more pronounced these days.
The reason the grab for your drug dollars is more evident now is that the drug companies are running out of new drugs. This isn't a cheery state of affairs for any of them, as new drugs in their development pipeline keep them afloat financially. Problem is, what they produce is usually on patent. Translation: patent equals mega bucks at the pharmacy for a brand name drug.
Therefore they have to continually produce new drugs to stay in business. This is the major reason why they have fits when a drug comes of patent protection and allows the generic drug makers a crack at their once protected drug market. Big pharma does not like sharing its revenue pool.
In fact, they so dislike sharing their drug profits with other upstart generic drug makers that they've been known to delay generic drugs, and do everything in their power to keep them from being produced, come up with a new drug that isn't a new drug, just a combination of two old ones with a twist, or apply for extended patent protection.
Sneaky dealings, but they sometimes work. The sad news is when the backroom boys do their thing the consumers wind up paying more for drugs than they need to and the cost of health care keeps spiraling up. This is one of the major reasons health insurance companies and other health care administrators are putting their foot down over the cost of drugs.
More and more the call is for cheaper, generic drugs. That makes the generic manufacturers happy, but really bums out the big pharmaceutical giants who are losing money. If you spend any time online researching drugs costs, you'll rapidly get the big picture of drug companies run amok and taking aim at your not so deep pockets.
In a nutshell, buy generic. It's the only way to keep the rising cost of medical care in check.
Richard Cantu is with Texas Health and Life, a Texas health insurance and Texas life insurance agency in Texas. To learn more, visit www.texashealthandlife.com.
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