Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

Large American pharmaceutical companies cannot have it both ways

Mitchell Brooks, MD
Meds
September 16, 2011
Share
Tweet
Share

Large American pharmaceutical companies must decide which end of the drug development / delivery to patent pipeline they wish the American taxpayer to subsidize. They cannot have it both ways.

First, let me say that there has been a free-for all demonization of the drug companies or the more pernicious appellation Big Pharma. Large pharmaceutical companies provide jobs, support community services and charities. They provide the drugs and treatments that save lives and make lives better and longer. The very people for whom they provide political financial support have demonized them. Such portrayals and rank hypocrisy serve no noble purpose, no public good.

That said, it is not the place of the American taxpayer to underwrite the cost of prescription drugs for the very socialized healthcare countries that mock our healthcare model, and us as well, while at the same time to become the victims of cost shifting by the very drug companies whose product creation we subsidize. Simply put, if large American pharmaceutical companies are writing off the considerable expense and risk of research and development of a new drug against their profit, then they should not be allowed to raise the cost of those same drugs to the American public to cover the lower prices they willingly accept from the aforementioned socialized countries. In essence, Peter is being robbed to pay Paul. In the United States, we should not be paying more than any government of a socialized healthcare country pays for the same medications, especially if we underwrote the development of that same medication.

If such medically socialized countries wish to have first-line drugs and treatments accessible to their citizenry, then they must be willing to pay more for the superior product or risk having even higher mortality rates and greater productivity loses from the resultant deaths and illness that would follow the loss of up-to-date treatment.

The American people should no longer pay twice for the privilege of suffering insult from the mouths of those very people they subsidize.

Mitchell Brooks is an orthopedic surgeon and the host of Health of the Nation on Talk Radio 570 KLIF in Dallas, Texas.  He blogs at Health of the Nation.

Submit a guest post and be heard on social media’s leading physician voice.

Prev

The root cause of why our health system is unsustainable

September 16, 2011 Kevin 40
…
Next

MKSAP: 81-year-old man is evaluated for the gradual onset and progression of memory loss

September 17, 2011 Kevin 1
…

Tagged as: Medications

Post navigation

< Previous Post
The root cause of why our health system is unsustainable
Next Post >
MKSAP: 81-year-old man is evaluated for the gradual onset and progression of memory loss

ADVERTISEMENT

More by Mitchell Brooks, MD

  • The creative destruction of the American family physician

    Mitchell Brooks, MD
  • a desk with keyboard and ipad with the kevinmd logo

    Healthcare consolidation may bend the cost curve the wrong way

    Mitchell Brooks, MD
  • a desk with keyboard and ipad with the kevinmd logo

    Tort reform and integrated systems in health reform

    Mitchell Brooks, MD

More in Meds

  • FDA delays could end vital treatment for rare disease patients

    GJ van Londen, MD
  • Pharmacists are key to expanding Medicaid access to digital therapeutics

    Amanda Matter
  • How medicine repurposing enables value-based pain management and insomnia therapy

    Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD
  • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

    Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA
  • From stigma to science: Rethinking the U.S. drug scheduling system

    Artin Asadipooya
  • How drugmakers manipulate your health from diagnosis to prescription

    Martha Rosenberg
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Who gets to be well in America: Immigrant health is on the line

      Joshua Vasquez, MD | Policy
    • Why specialist pain clinics and addiction treatment services require strong primary care

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Conditions
    • Harassment and overreach are driving physicians to quit

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Physician
    • Why peer support can save lives in high-pressure medical careers

      Maire Daugharty, MD | Conditions
    • When a medical office sublease turns into a legal nightmare

      Ralph Messo, DO | Physician
    • Addressing menstrual health inequities in adolescents

      Callia Georgoulis | Conditions
  • Past 6 Months

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • Who gets to be well in America: Immigrant health is on the line

      Joshua Vasquez, MD | Policy
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • The shocking risk every smart student faces when applying to medical school

      Curtis G. Graham, MD | Physician
    • Clinical ghosts and why they haunt our exam rooms

      Kara Wada, MD | Conditions
    • High blood pressure’s hidden impact on kidney health in older adults

      Edmond Kubi Appiah, MPH | Conditions
    • Deep transcranial magnetic stimulation for depression [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • How declining MMR vaccination rates put future generations at risk

      Ambika Sharma, Onyi Oligbo, and Katrina Green, MD | Conditions
    • The physician who turned burnout into a mission for change

      Jessie Mahoney, MD | Physician

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 21 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Who gets to be well in America: Immigrant health is on the line

      Joshua Vasquez, MD | Policy
    • Why specialist pain clinics and addiction treatment services require strong primary care

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Conditions
    • Harassment and overreach are driving physicians to quit

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Physician
    • Why peer support can save lives in high-pressure medical careers

      Maire Daugharty, MD | Conditions
    • When a medical office sublease turns into a legal nightmare

      Ralph Messo, DO | Physician
    • Addressing menstrual health inequities in adolescents

      Callia Georgoulis | Conditions
  • Past 6 Months

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • Who gets to be well in America: Immigrant health is on the line

      Joshua Vasquez, MD | Policy
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • The shocking risk every smart student faces when applying to medical school

      Curtis G. Graham, MD | Physician
    • Clinical ghosts and why they haunt our exam rooms

      Kara Wada, MD | Conditions
    • High blood pressure’s hidden impact on kidney health in older adults

      Edmond Kubi Appiah, MPH | Conditions
    • Deep transcranial magnetic stimulation for depression [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • How declining MMR vaccination rates put future generations at risk

      Ambika Sharma, Onyi Oligbo, and Katrina Green, MD | Conditions
    • The physician who turned burnout into a mission for change

      Jessie Mahoney, MD | Physician

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Large American pharmaceutical companies cannot have it both ways
21 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...