Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Pfizer profits up 470% on year despite wilting Viagra sales
What? Was there 470-percent more illness?
Meanwhile they whine. How does the public put up with this crap? It’s not the profits that bother me, it’s the whining and the public apathy over costs. Why are these drugs cheaper everywhere else in the world but here?
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Simple: Collusion. Well, maybe not that bad, but foreign nations dictate what they will pay to the drug companies, rather than the drug companies charging the rest of the world what the market dictates. And the US citizens have to make up the difference.
I’ve long believed that this is an issue just begging to go to the WTO. Foreign nations aren’t fairly negotiating with our drug companies. They’re fixing prices and causing unfair burden on US citizens.
You sure there is not a tie to the IRS.
There must be a link to the IRS.
I think the collusion aregument above is quite rediculous. If their profits have gone up 470% they could easily afford to sell their drugs for less money in the States. Why don’t they? Because they don’t have to. The American government needs to step in and put their foot down. But alas, that is where the collusion really is – between the government and the drug companies. The WTO has nothing to do with it, this is an American government problem.
If other nations dictate the cost of drugs, the Americans could too. What you should be asking, is why don’t they.
whaaaa…. OUR government isn’t protecting us…
what about anti-trust, monopoly, and usury laws…and, consumer protection, and laws against predatory lenders, and immigration, and all of the things put in place to protect us..as citizens of the country. What happened to the laws we have on the books..and their enforcement?
….You mean, this is yet, another example of our government failing to protect us in favor of big multinational corportaions making profit?
Huh, go figure.
So, what do we do about it?
The report from Pfizer states that Lipitor is the drug that led the way for this quarter. It’s purpose is to lower cholesterol. Cholesterol is very much dependent on a person’s behavior (diet and exercise). Maybe people should get off their asses and do something to control their health rather than whine about how much the drugs cost! Drugs are not the only answer. Pfizer doesn’t have a monopoly on exercise and diet does it?
Geez, okay, point taken…but I have a topical medicine for rosacea that is $180 a tube!!!! Diet and exercise won’t do a thing for it….and although it’s not a Lipitor…it certainly seems a bit steep costs wise.
Likewise, the most recent drugs prescribed for my son (after flu, inflamed airway syndrome) were $110, and the last antibiotic we had prescribed (last year, for an ear infection) was $95.00 for a weeks supply. Seems pretty darn steep to me, considering that none of these were vanity drugs, and none were lifestyle drugs.
One of the ways to decrease the costs for drugs is to reduce the barriers to entry forr the drug manufacturing market. If Pfizer had more competition they couldn’t charge as much as they wanted to. The primary barrier to entry that I see is the FDA. It costs incredible amounts of money to have drugs tested and approved. Its absolutely ridciulous. It used to be that the drug approval process took 1 or 2 years now it takes 10+. Try finding a startup that can last 10 years before any hope of revenue.
Philgar, you hit on the true epidemic when you wrote:
“Cholesterol is very much dependent on a person’s behavior (diet and exercise). Maybe people should get off their asses and do something to control their health rather than whine about how much the drugs cost!”
“…a person’s behavior… ” The slash and burn behavior of our 10,000 year old ancestors is alive and well. We run everything down until its broken, and then we fix it and begin to run it down again. This goes not only for own bodies, but for the body that sustains Life on Earth: the environment. If our leaders cannot show a good example then it becomes a free-for-all for everything else as well.
#9 Anonymous –
That raises an interesting question – how come the insurance companies don’t seem to have any leverage to hold down drug costs? Could it be the way the anti-trust laws are written?
Meetsy –
Does Rosacea cause any other problems besides the discoloration of the face? If that’s the only problem it causes, one could argue that the medication you take is a “vanity drug”.
Frank,
Yes, rosacea does cause other problems besides “discoloration”. Besides the WC Field’s nose….it can cause ulcers on the eyes that cause diminished sight, scaring of the skin, thickening of the skin, and without treatment it tends to spread, causing problems with sweat glands, and intense itching, dryness, and discomfort. It’s not just “unsightly” it’s very uncomfortable.
..Meanwhile, there may be a link between stomach ulcers and rosacea which is still under investigation.
It’s certainly less “vanity” than stiff woodie-medicines, hair restoral pills and topicals, and assorted other male issues. And, to say that discolored and disfigured skin doesn’t cause problems in life, in general..is to discount the fact that people with severe acne (which is what advanced rosecea looks like,..hence the common reference to “adult onset acne”) have problems with hiring, with jobs that involve public contact, etc. And, just like severe acne, rosacea can cause open pus filled sores, and oozing, crusting and secondary infections.
If you don’t control it during the flare ups, it will get worse each time….or that’s the medical prognosis. IT won’t go away…and it cycles…so each cycle causes more damage, and the next cycle adds to it, and does more damage. The point of treatment is to minimize the accumulative damage, and slow the process.
W.C. Fields had eye ulcers, and reduced eye sight from his uncontrolled rosacea. He had trouble sleeping because of the thickening of his skin around his nose/breathing interferences. He had involvement down his back, and on his chest. (He was a family friend of my father, and he visited him often. His skin issues were so severe that there were times wearing a shirt was too painful.)
…So, yeah, it’s NOT “vanity” it’s a long term, managed illness…like diabetes.
Does that answer your question?
OLD POST…
I wonder how much they made this year.