Cancer patients in China Make Their Own Drugs

[Darryl]

In China, Desperate Patients Smuggle Drugs. Or Make Their Own. nyti.ms/2DgRGY7?smid=nytcor...

[Fairwind]

The global pharmaceutical system is broken..I suspect most of the life-saving drugs are very inexpensive to manufacture..Before the FDA approves a new drug, they should be required to investigate what it's retail price will be and compare that to the cost of manufacturing the drug. If those two numbers are way out of line, then the drug should not be approved..Big Pharma's claims that they must recover the billions of dollars they spend developing these drugs fades when you discover they spend far more on advertising and promoting than they spend on research..

While in the United States patients or their insurance companies are expected to pay exorbitant prices for drugs, especially cancer drugs, the rest of the worlds population can't begin to pay the U.S. prices..So what happens? Big Pharma has MANY different price points for its drugs, depending on which country you live in...In many countries U.S. patent laws are frequently ignored and low cost generic substitutes are made available to those who need them..Many Americans, unable to afford just the co-pays on some of these drugs have found ways to access foreign pharmacies who can provide them at a fraction of the asking price in the U.S.

[whatsinaname in reply to Fairwind]

Well said, Fairwind. The system is "broken" and badly needs to be fixed.

[Hidden]

I get an acid reducer drug and an erectile dysfunction drug from India. The latter works out to about $3 a pill, with shipping. It would be more than ten times that from the greedy American pharmaceutical company. If they can outsource our jobs to India I can outsource my pharmaceutical needs to India. I once had an "inspected by homeland security" sticker on one package but they generally wink at this practice -- I have to pick it up from the post office but I've never had a problem. Lest anyone argue that the manufacturers in India are risky or dangerous -- the manufacturer who provided my ED pills was the same company that provided my statin drug that I picked up at Walgreens.

[j-o-h-n]

with or without MSG?

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n Monday 11/12/2018 7:39 PM EST

[whatsinaname in reply to j-o-h-n]

The Indian pharmaceutical industry supplies 40% of the over-the-counter and generic prescription drugs consumed in the United States. This was from a New York Times article of 14th Feb, 2014, when NYT was not considered "fake news"

[j-o-h-n in reply to whatsinaname]

No wonder my meds taste like curry (and hot and spicy too).

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n Wednesday 11/14/2018 6:06 PM EST

[j-o-h-n]

I don't agree. The Dakota has doormen.

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n Monday 11/12/2018 7:42 PM EST