Bayer CEO: "We did not make this medicine for Indians…we made it for Westerners who can afford it"

[ill]

The companies have 20 years to recoup, it's not like they're in dire need of quick profits to get away from the competition.

Although, I agree that the problem isn't solely the companies' since government allows these high artificial prices due to guaranteed payments aka insurance coverage. But in a market like India? How can anyone justify regional manufacturing but then strictly selling the product overseas.

Companies have that timeframe to recoup if its patented in the US and even then they are only protected in the US and countries that we have agreements with regarding protecting IP. That's the issue here. American intellectual property laws aren't being respected and products are being stolen from us. Once the patent runs out, sure, its fair game for generics. I have no issues with that. But when India steals our IP before the patents expire, they are essentially stealing our motivation for future cures. Why put in $2 billion into research if you're only going to get say $1.5B out of it due to someone stealing your product and undercutting you? Now in the business sense, its def possible to lose money on a new product and it happens. However, when you lose out on that money because someone stole your product design, that kills all incentive to compete and make progress imo.

I do agree with that point you alluded to in regards to the insurance money. I think the real problem is the highly over-priced and inflated health care system thats in place. I think that needs to be addressed before we can get mad at companies that play in that system.

 

[2Quik4UHoes]

RIGHT when I was thinking about taking CAC out of my vocabulary.

This shyt is just wayy too much.

Boy you must be tripping.

 

[Black smoke and cac jokes]

Companies have that timeframe to recoup if its patented in the US and even then they are only protected in the US and countries that we have agreements with regarding protecting IP. That's the issue here. American intellectual property laws aren't being respected and products are being stolen from us. Once the patent runs out, sure, its fair game for generics. I have no issues with that. But when India steals our IP before the patents expire, they are essentially stealing our motivation for future cures. Why put in $2 billion into research if you're only going to get say $1.5B out of it due to someone stealing your product and undercutting you? Now in the business sense, its def possible to lose money on a new product and it happens. However, when you lose out on that money because someone stole your product design, that kills all incentive to compete and make progress imo.

I do agree with that point you alluded to in regards to the insurance money. I think the real problem is the highly over-priced and inflated health care system thats in place. I think that needs to be addressed before we can get mad at companies that play in that system.

Ok, first of all, nothing is being "stolen". If you release a product then you put yourself at risk. If U.S. decides to have patent laws then go for it, no other sovereign nation should be forced to oblige to the same rules. Bayer refuses to lower the price and sell the product in India so, consequently, an Indian pharmaceutical company seizes the opportunity of supplying the market.

They are not stealing shyt, if you are a company with a net asset of ~18 billion euros then you've never been undercut or remotely close to the break-even point. All these ridiculous arguments of "We deserve all the market share due to our R&D expenditures" are as soon as you decide to manufacture the product outside your jurisdiction. You can't decide to be in an international capitalistic market and then demand socialistic solutions.

No ones asking these companies to put up $2billion, if they don't like it then get da fukk out, it's that easy.

EDIT: I'm not coming at you but I'm just frustrated after sitting in a PE meeting hearing similar arguments made by these uppity, arrogant, self-gratuitous senior managers.

 

[Type Username Here]

The cost of manufacturing this drug is very small. The cost of developing it is huge - in the billions. In order for this company to recoup their initial investment, they have to set a high price. India undercuts the price by a lot and kills Bayers revenue. If India replicates all American drugs, what incentive do American companies have to develop cures and solutions for diseases?

If American bio companies lose money creating new drugs, why create them?

To me this is the most primitive form of thinking that exists. Why does everything HAVE to be driven by profit?

Take this example: An asteroid is on the path to hit the earth and we can avert it somehow by doing X. Does profit play a role there? Do we consider it in light of possible catastrophe? Then why does it matter when it comes to diseases?

Bayer owes a large portion of its success to the contributing to the Third Reich (they made Zyklon B gas for Concentration Camps). I'm sure they cared about profits , revenue and recouping their investments for that too.

 

[iceberg_is_on_fire]

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/01/26/3205861/pharmaceutical-ceo-cancer-drug-westerners-afford/

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"Pharmaceutical CEO: Cancer Drug Is Only For Westerners Who Can Afford It"

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BAYER CEO Marijn Dekkers

CREDIT: BAYER

In 2005, the FDA granted approval for a promising new cancer-fighting drug called Nexavar. Bayer took it to market shortly thereafter, and it is currently an approved treatment for late-stage kidney and liver cancer.

That is, so long as you live in the developed world. In a recently published interview in Bloomberg Businessweek, Bayer CEO Marijn Dekkers said that his company’s drug isn’t for poor people.

“We did not develop this medicine for Indians…we developed it for western patients who can afford it,” he said back in December. The quote is quickly making its way across Indian news outlets.

The comment was in response to a decision by an Indian patent court that granted a compulsory license to a local company to reproduce Bayer’s drug. Under Indian patent laws, if a product is not available locally at a reasonable cost, other companies may apply for licenses to reproduce those products at a more affordable price. Nexavar costs an estimated $69,000 for a full year of treatment in India, 41 times the country’s annual per capita income.

In 2012, Indian pharmaceutical company Natco Pharma Ltd. applied for just such a license, and it was granted. The company began reproducing the drug at a 97 percent discount, offering it for just $177. Bayer has been appealing the ruling ever since, and in December Dekkers told Businessweek that he viewed the compulsory license as “essentially theft” before dismissing poor Indian cancer patients.

Pharmaceutical companies have long been accused of ignoring the plight of those who cannot afford their astronomical prices. In the United States, where insurance companies often pick up most of the tab, consumers are often shielded from the true cost of drugs they are prescribed (Nexavar, for example, costs as much as $96,000 in the United States, but Bayer ensures that eligible US patients only see a $100 copay).

Dekkers’ quote brings into sharp relief the industry’s general ambivalence towards the developing world. A 2012 report from Doctors Without Borders found that most pharmaceutical companies devote only a small fraction of their operating budgets to fighting diseases that disproportionally affect — and kill — millions of the world’s poorest people.

I led off my class with this story

 

[Julius Skrrvin]

I led off my class with this story

You gon rep me for helping you with school or what

 

[Type Username Here]

"Yes, our company got wealthy from helping the Nazis gas millions of people, but we had to recoup losses and make a profit"

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

The drugs work tho...

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

R&D ain't cheap breh

 

[Type Username Here]

R&D ain't cheap breh

But human lives are?

 

[FaTaL]

he should of been more nice, i can see india just say fuk it and reverse engineer all the drugs they want to use and give these companies nothing like china does

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

But human lives are?

false equivalency.

 

[Type Username Here]

"We did not make this Zyklon B for Germans...we made it for Jews, Gypsies, Homosexuals and Soviets who deserve it"

 

[Type Username Here]

false equivalency.

How so?

 

[Black smoke and cac jokes]

R&D ain't cheap breh

Do you even know what R&D is?