So what happens when they move pharmaceutical manufacturing back to the US?
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wrote on 17 May 2020, 18:46 last edited by
Everybody was complaining that drugs were too expensive when they were being made in China. What happens when they come back? Same with PPE...Medical expenses are about to go through the roof.
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wrote on 17 May 2020, 19:25 last edited by
The other question is - in a full employment world, how attractive is a factory job making generic pills?
Would these businesses have to be propped up by the government?
Would we say no to Polish PPE? (Just making that up as an example)
What do we do once we’ve built up a national stockpile?
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wrote on 17 May 2020, 19:26 last edited by Jolly
Come South, folks. We'll do pills for $15/hr starting wages...And don't forget, we used to do a lot of this stuff in Puerto Rico...
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wrote on 17 May 2020, 20:09 last edited by
I rather doubt it is terribly labor intensive. More capital equipment.
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wrote on 17 May 2020, 20:18 last edited by
@Mik said in So what happens when they move pharmaceutical manufacturing back to the US?:
I rather doubt it is terribly labor intensive. More capital equipment.
Chemist friend of mine makes generic Tylenol as a way to test and calibrate her equipment.
She also knows extremely effective ways to get rid of bodies.
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wrote on 17 May 2020, 20:19 last edited by
Heck, I know some guys who will get rid of a body for free if you pay them 500 bucks to kill it.....
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wrote on 17 May 2020, 20:36 last edited by
Also what’s the cost benefit of a strategic stockpile vs. investing in generic drugs and basic ppe.
What if we had enough drugs to cover normal usage for 1-2 years? Does that give us enough time to setup backup supply lines here in case they’re disrupted?
We get something 40% of OTC from India. Does that all come here?
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wrote on 17 May 2020, 20:46 last edited by
I hear about these "stockpiles" and wonder where they are.
Obviously, PPE etc. would be kept in warehouses around the country, as one location would be stupid. Pharmaceuticals have a shelf life. I can see how it was easier to outsource to China rather than manage a national reserve. Maybe not easier, but more fun to spend money elsewhere on cool things. -
wrote on 17 May 2020, 21:36 last edited by
I suspect for the most part there are plenty of drugs. Of course there will be a couple of real issues and with news the exception is always the rule.
The politics of drugs have changed pretty dramatically though. No one knows where this will go and there will be no shortage of pundits and soothsayers.
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wrote on 17 May 2020, 21:52 last edited by
I don’t think manufacturing costs are the major driver of drug costs.
It’s the fact that the drug companies charge whatever the political system will bear.
PPE, other supplies, sure.
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@Mik said in So what happens when they move pharmaceutical manufacturing back to the US?:
I rather doubt it is terribly labor intensive. More capital equipment.
Chemist friend of mine makes generic Tylenol as a way to test and calibrate her equipment.
She also knows extremely effective ways to get rid of bodies.
wrote on 17 May 2020, 21:56 last edited by@Aqua-Letifer said in So what happens when they move pharmaceutical manufacturing back to the US?:
@Mik said in So what happens when they move pharmaceutical manufacturing back to the US?:
I rather doubt it is terribly labor intensive. More capital equipment.
Chemist friend of mine makes generic Tylenol as a way to test and calibrate her equipment.
She also knows extremely effective ways to get rid of bodies.
Bet you I know more.
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I don’t think manufacturing costs are the major driver of drug costs.
It’s the fact that the drug companies charge whatever the political system will bear.
PPE, other supplies, sure.
wrote on 17 May 2020, 21:56 last edited by@jon-nyc said in So what happens when they move pharmaceutical manufacturing back to the US?:
I don’t think manufacturing costs are the major driver of drug costs.
It’s the fact that the drug companies charge whatever the political system will bear.
PPE, other supplies, sure.
Over the last five years if you believed in the Pharma stock sector you would have been spanked very hard.
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wrote on 17 May 2020, 22:04 last edited by
Speaking of stuff going bad...
We got a lot of FEMA stuff, post-Katrina. It sat in the warehouse, until A) most of the water containers broke one night, because the plastic got old and brittle, B) the MREs expired...a whole warehouse wall of them, six dumpsters full, and C) we finally got tired of looking at stuff and it melted away, a decade later, and D)all of the IV solutions expired, etc.
The problem with stockpiles, is you have to keep piling.
Maybe something like what the Mormons do with food will work. Mormons keep one year's worth of food on hand at all times. They do this by rotating in much of the stock on a quarterly or semi-annual basis.
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wrote on 17 May 2020, 22:20 last edited by
The cost to manufacture a pill is a nickel.
The cost to design, develop, test and certify might be billions.
That leaves a lot of room for creative pricing.
Especially if you don't care about intellectual property rights.
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@jon-nyc said in So what happens when they move pharmaceutical manufacturing back to the US?:
I don’t think manufacturing costs are the major driver of drug costs.
It’s the fact that the drug companies charge whatever the political system will bear.
PPE, other supplies, sure.
Over the last five years if you believed in the Pharma stock sector you would have been spanked very hard.
wrote on 17 May 2020, 23:10 last edited by@Loki said in So what happens when they move pharmaceutical manufacturing back to the US?:
Over the last five years if you believed in the Pharma stock sector you would have been spanked very hard.
True, however irrelevant to my point.
But you got me thinking, what does (Pharma - Valeant) look like over the last 5 years?
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Speaking of stuff going bad...
We got a lot of FEMA stuff, post-Katrina. It sat in the warehouse, until A) most of the water containers broke one night, because the plastic got old and brittle, B) the MREs expired...a whole warehouse wall of them, six dumpsters full, and C) we finally got tired of looking at stuff and it melted away, a decade later, and D)all of the IV solutions expired, etc.
The problem with stockpiles, is you have to keep piling.
Maybe something like what the Mormons do with food will work. Mormons keep one year's worth of food on hand at all times. They do this by rotating in much of the stock on a quarterly or semi-annual basis.
wrote on 18 May 2020, 00:22 last edited by@Jolly said in So what happens when they move pharmaceutical manufacturing back to the US?:
Maybe something like what the Mormons do with food will work. Mormons keep one year's worth of food on hand at all times. They do this by rotating in much of the stock on a quarterly or semi-annual basis.
Queueing stock, first in, first out. That's the way to go.
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wrote on 18 May 2020, 01:13 last edited by
2019:
Left: BIG PHARMA - BAD!!!
2020:
Left: BIG PHARMA - GOOD!!!
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wrote on 18 May 2020, 01:42 last edited by
@Larry said in So what happens when they move pharmaceutical manufacturing back to the US?:
2019:
Left: BIG PHARMA - BAD!!!
2020:
Left: BIG PHARMA - GOOD!!!
Election politics. Find the issues that you can motivate the base. Pharma ain’t no saint but it is far from the worst of our issues. Here’s the key point, it’s only 10% of total healthcare costs. If all drugs were 100% free it wouldn’t solve the problem.
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@Larry said in So what happens when they move pharmaceutical manufacturing back to the US?:
2019:
Left: BIG PHARMA - BAD!!!
2020:
Left: BIG PHARMA - GOOD!!!
Election politics. Find the issues that you can motivate the base. Pharma ain’t no saint but it is far from the worst of our issues. Here’s the key point, it’s only 10% of total healthcare costs. If all drugs were 100% free it wouldn’t solve the problem.
wrote on 18 May 2020, 03:27 last edited by@Loki said in So what happens when they move pharmaceutical manufacturing back to the US?:
it is far from the worst of our issues.
The fewer expensive medications you take, the easier it is for you to say that.
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@Loki said in So what happens when they move pharmaceutical manufacturing back to the US?:
it is far from the worst of our issues.
The fewer expensive medications you take, the easier it is for you to say that.
wrote on 18 May 2020, 13:18 last edited by@Aqua-Letifer said in So what happens when they move pharmaceutical manufacturing back to the US?:
@Loki said in So what happens when they move pharmaceutical manufacturing back to the US?:
it is far from the worst of our issues.
The fewer expensive medications you take, the easier it is for you to say that.
There used to be a time when companies picked up the majority of healthcare costs. Many reasons for that change. I suppose now it is the out of pocket cap right that people can hit, and which plan a person picks with respect to how long it takes to hit that cap? You can pay more or less monthly right for a different cap? Is your point that people are hitting the cap sooner because of drug price increases?