NEW: Taxpayers and charities helped develop Zolgensma. Then it debuted at a record price, ushering in a new class of wildly expensive drugs. Its story upends the widely held conception that high prices reflect huge industry investments in innovation. - ThreadSky

propublica.org • 12 days ago

NEW: Taxpayers and charities helped develop Zolgensma. Then it debuted at a record price, ushering in a new class of wildly expensive drugs.

Its story upends the widely held conception that high prices reflect huge industry investments in innovation.

Comments

marcsyd.bsky.social•12 days ago

Good read to work against the myth of why drug prices are so high.

lee-gfyarnnerd.bsky.social•12 days ago

When a company I worked for got a drug approved that I had worked on for ten years and gave a presentation on the market into which they were looking to expand, the only explanation I heard for pricing was what insurance companies would agree to pay.

dabxdee.bsky.social•12 days ago

I think the insurance companies should be treated as people under Citizens United, and charged with terrorism against their customers. And throw in the 8th amendment to boot

jsxover.bsky.social•12 days ago

Yeah, the only thing wrong here is that the implication that this new. Same story over and over.

Only difference is the logarithmic increase in cost, which is a bold move.

vtmoderate.bsky.social•12 days ago

I’ve never understood why the government doesn’t put price checks on drugs that are funded by taxpayers. They should keep some ownership.

gjabberbox.bsky.social•12 days ago

This is standard for R&D. Research we fund is given away for a song and then sold back to us for ridiculously high prices. Our lawmakers make all of this possible. At what point will we admit that they are the problem?

jimlsilver.bsky.social•12 days ago

A sordid, disgusting story of immoral greed.
Brian Kaspar might love his $9 million estate, but I don't see how he can sleep at night.
Except for the Gaynors, pretty much everyone involved is a greedy bloodsucker.

dailyresilience.bsky.social•12 days ago

As Mariana Mazzucato has said numerous times, the Government and Charities are bad cash in their investments. Examples like this are everywhere. The internet zero royalties

mijoszew.bsky.social•12 days ago

Publicly subsidized risk for privatized profit.

chrischoptain.bsky.social•12 days ago

little slow on the uptake buddys

Katie Porter already exposed the predatory pricing of NIH funded medications and therapies 2 or 3 years ago during a congressional hearing

white board and all

dabxdee.bsky.social•12 days ago

Katie is a Rock Star, I'm gonna miss her

bonny-portland.bsky.social•12 days ago

She traded the American people for AIPAC funds.

dysheki.bsky.social•12 days ago

Regardless of how 'new' it is, if you can't see the importance of making sure more people know about these things while *waves about* everything that is happening happens - I'm not sure what to tell you.

chrischoptain.bsky.social•12 days ago

I didn't say don't report on it

just that they are slow to do so

knightrighter.bsky.social•12 days ago

There are also books that go into detail about this practice that pre-date your earlier reference.

But rather than have an "I saw this first" contest, we should be happy that people KEEP reporting about it. More and more people see it, and maybe, fuck forbid, someone will do something.

dysheki.bsky.social•12 days ago

knightrighter.bsky.social•12 days ago

tonyshouse.bsky.social•12 days ago

Not surprised. A country of the rich for the rich and by the rich on the broken backs of the many.

soundslikeyello.bsky.social•12 days ago

Horrifying and outrageous. The government needs to be reimbursed for the fruits of their labor and investments. And the drug companies need to be MASSIVELY REGULATED. A lot less money could have still brought this drug to market.

jeshopson.bsky.social•12 days ago

They see rich kids as the future…and poor kids as the workers.
There zero desire to save us.

jmcrookston.bsky.social•12 days ago

Nothing new for over 50 years.

https://archive.org/details/isbn_0919573266

sinnick.bsky.social•12 days ago

wilsontoxlab.bsky.social•12 days ago

📌

drpaulm.bsky.social•12 days ago

The price should be means tested. If its going to save a child's life, the child's net worth should determine the price. If you're Bryan Johnson, whelp, hoo boy. That sucker's gonna cost ya

rosebanditquinn.bsky.social•12 days ago

I kept looking through this article to see if there was information on how much this drug cost to make and was disappointed there wasn’t any info. Do you know how much? (Not that I don’t believe in the blatant greed of Big Pharmaceutical.)

jimlsilver.bsky.social•12 days ago

Almost all of the development costs were underwritten by charity and government. So, the bottom line is the greedy bastards profiting from this price gouging paid nothing for development.

rosebanditquinn.bsky.social•12 days ago

I guess my question is, how much does it cost to manufacture? Likely, not a million dollars.

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