HOW TO LOSE SLEEP

It's quarter-to-one Monday morning, December 10th. I should be in bed, fast asleep. But I just read an article in the Washington Post entitled INVESTIGATION OF GENERIC 'CARTEL' EXPANDS TO 300 DRUGS.  Here's the link to it:

Generic drug price-fixing investigation expands to 300 drugs and 16 companies

I advise you not to read it unless you don't mind becoming very angry. That's what happened to me -- so much so, that my blood seemed to boil, and there was no way I could sleep without getting this post out. 

You see, like many of us, I had naively supposed that generic drugs were supposed to be significantly less expensive than the brand-name versions whose patent had expired. That's why the generic program had been created, I thought: To give other pharmaceutical outfits a chance -- once a patent had expired on a drug -- to compete with others to manufacture these drugs at a lower price. 

But now, with this Washington Post article, I learn that these pharmaceutical manufacturers meet and conspire to fix prices. They have their own little euphemisms: "The Sandbox" is the market-place where all the generic manufacturers are expected to "play nice" and not charge any less than the agreed-upon inflated price. "Fair Share" means divvying up the sales pie of so each of the companies can continue making money, and "Trashing the Market" refers to a company's refusing to abide by the unwritten rules and selling for lower than the prices the group has agreed upon.  And I learn that just as there is honor among thieves,  there is a code that everyone tries to abide by: LET NONE OF OUR AGREEMENTS BE COMMITTED TO WRITING!

This activity was known for a few years, and lawsuits were already in progress,  but when a Federal Judge recently ruled that more than a million emails. cell phone texts, and other documents could be shared among all the plaintiffs, and ...

What started as an antitrust lawsuit brought by states over just two drugs in 2016 has exploded into an investigation of alleged price-fixing involving at least 16 companies and 300 drugs, Joseph Nielsen, an assistant attorney general and antitrust investigator in Connecticut who has been a leading force in the probe, said in an interview.... “This is most likely the largest cartel in the history of the United States,” he said. 

The result is that long-standing out-of-patent medicines like Albuterol, which not long ago sold  for 13 cents a tablet, now sells for "more than $4.70." That's more than a 3400 percent increase. And the cartel does this not because there's been some impediment in the supply, as some of us had foolishly supposed.  No. They do it simply because they feel like it. To explain this behavior Neilson offered a single word:

(Emphasis mine.) 

Who pays for this? Everyone pays, singularly and collectively, whether we're on Medicare, regular insurance, or simply pay taxes, we pay through the nose.

Now many of  these profiteers' shenanigans, though ethically dubious, are perfectly legal. But conspiring to fix prices is -- much to the annoyance of these pharmaceutical pirates --  against the law. When this is pointed out to these folks, they proclaim with one voice: Try and Prove It!

(I'm not kidding, that's what they say.) Well, some dedicated prosecutors are trying to do just that -- prove it. Lets wish them luck. 

Let's do more than that: Let's channel our anger by telling  everyone we meet that ripping off the public in this way is downright UNAMERICAN -- sanctity of profits notwithstanding -- and must be resisted by reforming healthcare in this country to something that is NOT driven by the profit motive. 

That's what I'm trying to do by sharing this blog. And if all of you who read this will indeed share the word, rouse the anger, and SPREAD it, then I will be able to sleep tonight,

Goodnight!

Dio

PS: If you'd like to comment (and I hope you will), simply click on the number of comments area, and a "comment box" will appear in which you can share your views. Don't be afraid to teach me something!  Thanks to your comments, I'm learning all the time.

GOOD NEWS! ... SORT OF

Today I read some very positive sounding news: The on-line journal VOX reports that "A group of hospitals is banding together to produce cheap generic drugs to fight off egregious price hikes and drug shortages. The not-for-profit venture is called Civica Rx, and the company announced itself last month. A collection of 22 hospitals in the Salt Lake City area called Intermountain Healthcare, the Mayo Clinic, the for-profit health care facilities company HCA Healthcare, and some philanthropic foundations are pulling together to form the firm."

Wonderful!  They're looking to produce drugs generic drugs that are in short supply, or whose prices have skyrocketed  -- or both. For example, IV bags, injections for sundry anemic problems, tissue numbing agents, have been reported in very short supply, not to mention drugs that treat Parkinson's disease, chemotherapy drugs, and a tablet to treat C.O.P.D.  -- chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

All this, Vox reminds us, is happening against the backdrop of the Justice Department and 45 states being  "currently in court accusing generic drug makers of price fixing and costing Americans more than $1 billion for their medicines."  Vox goes on to say that  "We spend a lot of time on new brand-name drugs, but some of the most egregious examples of price hikes have been for generic drugs."

Amazing! No less than Jeff Bezos, chief of Amazon, had tried to go up against the behemoth of Big Pharma but had to back down, lacking the infrastructure and the complex network of customer relationships that Big Pharma has built up over the years. Yet now, these folks think they can do what Bezos couldn't? 

They have a very good chance. Part of Big Pharma's network of customer relationships was with hospitals, but a good part of the new group are themselves hospitals! They're not trying to develop any new drugs, but simply to make old ones that the drug industry, doubtless for monopolistic reasons, had allowed to get very scarce. Yes, the FDA will have to give its approval, but with the collective bona fides of  the new venture, that may not be at all impossible. The new firm will start off with 14 drugs yet to be named. "Experts," says Vox, "are cautiously optimistic." 

And you thought that Big Pharma was unassailable!  But don't start dancing quite yet. Yesterday I read of a study which proved that doctors who were given free meals were much more likely to prescribe the new, branded, proprietary drug pitched by the rep who was paying for the meal!  Researchers had already established that doctors who had been set up with speaking engagements would be far friendlier to the folks who set them up -- and the drugs they were selling -- than they otherwise would have been.

Let me tell you something: For years and years, the Health Industry has been wallowing in their own private Capitalistic heaven, enjoying obscene profits untrammeled by the regulations they would face in any other country. And do you think they are going to give all that up with out a fight? Do you think they won't pull out every trick in the book, to threaten,  lie, distort, suborn, seduce -- whatever it takes for them to hold on to their cushy situation? Ladies and Gentlemen, what we're up against here is class war.  Actually, we've been it it for a long time, but not many knew it.

But now, as the Bible says, it's time for us to "gird our loins with strength," and fight for our lives -- literally. I'm not talking pitchforks; it hasn't come to that yet, thank God. What I am talking about is linking arms, for unity is our strength. Our job is to form a unified front and show our state lawmakers that if they don't pass the New York Health Act (Single Payer for New York) we'll vote them out. Period. Many of them were very happy to vote for it when they were sure that the Republicans in the Senate would shoot it down.  But since that's now far less likely to happen, these so-called progressives may remember the money that got them elected,  and where it came from. They'll have a change of heart and reconsider, UNLESS WE HOLD THEIR FEET TO THE FIRE. What fire?  Why do you think I've been sharing these tales of  rapacious capitalists whose stupendous salaries we've been paying for with our blood -- to fuel the the fire of our outrage, our determination.  There'll be more of the same, God willing, together with some sense of what Single Payer is, and why I can think of no  other cure for the sick morass that is healthcare in our country.

Dio

PS: If you'd like to comment, (and I hope you will) simply click on the number of comments  area, and share your thoughts in the comment box that appears. Don't be afraid to teach me something -- your comments have already taught me a lot, and I love it!