You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Home Front: Politix
Biden: Drug Companies Will Have to ‘Come to Us’ and ‘We Will Set the Price’
2019-08-02
We all know how well price controls work, and how effective they are at keeping business in the country.
[CNSNEWS] Companies that develop drugs will have to go to the Health and Human Services Department (HHS) to be told what they’ll be allowed to charge for their products if Joe Foreign Policy Whiz Kid Biden
...The former Senator-for-Life from Delaware, an example of the kind of top-notch Washington intellect to be found in the World's Greatest Deliberative Body...
is elected president, the former vice president declared Wednesday during the Democrat presidential debate.

Biden made the claim while defending his health care plan against the charge that it would not cover everyone in America, adding that his administration would also dictate any price increases:

"My plan does cover everyone, number one. Number two, the fact is that my plan also calls for controlling drug prices. The biopharma is now where things are going to go. It’s no longer chemicals.

"It's about all the breakthroughs we have with the whole -- excuse me, immune system.

"And, what we have to do now is we have to have a form that sits in the HHS and says: as you develop a drug, you got to come to us and decide what you can sell it for.

"We will set the price. And, secondly, it says that you cannot raise that price beyond the cost of inflation from this point on."

Posted by:Fred

#10  Sock Puppet of Doom, a 100% deduction?
Posted by: ruprecht   2019-08-02 20:15  

#9  Sure, Sock Puppet, but given that most pharmaceutical R&D does not result in a viable product, the small percent of projects that do yield a medication that works have to support billions of dollars of sunk costs. The vast majority of bright ideas turn out to be dead ends, or no better than medications currently on the market, and the cost of discovering that something does not work/work better is often not a great deal less than demonstrating to the FDA’s satisfaction that the discovery works well and is safe. The description of companies that have more tax write offs than income is “bankrupt”.
Posted by: trailing wife   2019-08-02 20:12  

#8  Actually by the generally accepted accounting rules R&D are sunk costs and a deduction on corporate taxes if these crooks are rolling R&as into calculating the sales price of the drug they are double dipping
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom   2019-08-02 17:54  

#7  research and testing costs can run into the millions.

Billions, Rambler. Or typically about $1 billion, when last I looked.
Posted by: trailing wife   2019-08-02 14:19  

#6  Math be hard for some, Rambler.

Especially for those who don't understand the concept of R&D.
Posted by: Mullah Richard   2019-08-02 13:18  

#5  So will the government actually force drug companies to research new drugs? Many of the drugs don't work out, or have unacceptable side effects.

Yes, it might cost only ten cents to produce a single pill, but the research and testing costs can run into the millions.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia    2019-08-02 12:19  

#4  Operation Infinite Graft
Posted by: Matt   2019-08-02 09:34  

#3  Biden will be opening a clinic for free breast exams.
Posted by: Glomosh Munster6010   2019-08-02 07:41  

#2  See - Soviet Central Planning
Posted by: Procopius2k   2019-08-02 07:02  

#1  Biden apparently forgot that the democrats already tried this once, resulting in sky high prices for formally cheap meds.
Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance   2019-08-02 03:03  

00:00