http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/05/…s.ap/index.html
I’m all for companies being able to make back the money they put into research and development–I just don’t think they should be trying to get back that money instantly. They could save many hundreds of billions alone by halting the advertising of prescription drugs like way they currently advertise on virtually every channel at almost every commercial break. Then they could sell the drug for a tiny amount and make the money back over a long period of time, like if Microsoft only charged $30 for Windows, or if Adobe only charged $200 for their scripting language for Flash instead of $10,000 per processor licence–they’d make the money back through sheer massive sales, it would just take a substantial amount longer–but when we’re talking about multibillion-dollar corporations, they can handle it.
I’m glad more countries are going against greedy U.S. companies. The more countries that do that, the more humane and ethical the U.S. pharmaceutical industry will be forced into becoming. Of course, that’s not without a lot of kicking and screaming and threatening beforehand. Hopefully the U.S. government won’t try to step into the situation to help their “ailing” buddies.