U.S. Scrambling to Ease Shortage of Vital Medicine

[Varda]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/20/health/policy/20drug.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&hp

I think this is great. We need to push for more deregulation and really let corporations do whatever they want. Have everything made overseas with cheap labour, poor factory conditions and cheap ingredients, whatever is necessary to yield higher profits to the shareholders.
The sooner we rid the world of our noxious existence, the better.

 

[chimpkin]

*Thinks of per's Funky Indian Pharma at home...*

 

[adoucette]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/20/health/policy/20drug.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&hp

I think this is great. We need to push for more deregulation and really let corporations do whatever they want. Have everything made overseas with cheap labour, poor factory conditions and cheap ingredients, whatever is necessary to yield higher profits to the shareholders.
The sooner we rid the world of our noxious existence, the better.

Too bad nothing in the article you linked to supports your assertions.

The one drug specifically named, Doxil is manufactured by a German company in Ohio.

J&J receives its Doxil supply from contract manufacturer Ben Venue Laboratories in Bedford, Ohio. Ben Venue is a unit of Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH of Germany.

So far this year at least 180 drugs ... have been declared in short supply

So, a very tiny percent of drugs are in short supply, is that really that big of an issue?

Consider:

150,000 preparations are now in use, of which 90% did not exist 25 years ago, and 75% did not exist ten years ago. About 15,000 new mixtures and dosages hit the market each year, while about 12,000 die off.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,872488,00.html#ixzz1VrAsylnf

Or consider:

Drug companies are like other companies in that they manufacture products that must be sold for a profit in order for the company to survive and grow. They are different from some companies because the drug business is very risky. For instance, only one out of every ten thousand discovered compounds actually becomes an approved drug for sale. Much expense is incurred in the early phases of development of compounds that will not become approved drugs.[4] In addition, it takes about 7 to 10 years and only 3 out of every 20 approved drugs bring in sufficient revenue to cover their developmental costs, and only 1 out of every 3 approved drugs generates enough money to cover the development costs of previous failures. This means that for a drug company to survive, it needs to discover a blockbuster (billion-dollar drug) every few years.

Industry-wide research and investment reached a record $65.3 billion in 2009.

Oh, and by the way, of the top 10 drug companys only 4 of them are in the US, the others are Swiss, German, UK or French.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmaceutical_industry

The sooner we rid the world of our noxious existence, the better.

Why haven't you taken your own advice?

Arthur