Objectivism in the pharm industry

[stellavision]

I've finally decided to start a blog on the pharmaceutical industry (I'm a copywriter for a pharm ad agency) from an Objectivist perspective -- I think the world could use an awful lot more reason in regard to health care, and all the essays I've had stewing in my head need to get written, darn it!

So, here it is: ReasonPharm. There's only one essay up at the moment (re: recent uproar among AIDS activists about Abbott Laboratories), but I'm hoping to put a new one up every week. Enjoy!

[intellectualammo]

I've finally decided to start a blog on the pharmaceutical industry (I'm a copywriter for a pharm ad agency) from an Objectivist perspective -- I think the world could use an awful lot more reason in regard to health care, and all the essays I've had stewing in my head need to get written, darn it!

Great idea!

I just read your blog. There's a new drug out, an alternative to lopinavir-ritonavir (Kaletra) - it's darunavir-ritonavir, but the price of it is even higher than Kaletra, from what I gather. Know anything about it?

And what about this?

Edited July 13, 2007 by intellectualammo

[stellavision]

Great idea!

I just read your blog. There's a new drug out, an alternative to lopinavir-ritonavir (Kaletra) - it's darunavir-ritonavir, but the price of it is even higher than Kaletra, from what I gather. Know anything about it?

And what about this?

There are many, many alternatives to Kaletra, at least many available in the United States. (As mentioned in my blog, there are 26 different drugs available, most of which have to be combined with each other to produce effective results.) I've only just started working for the brand (I work for the medical advertising agency that handles Kaletra), so I'm learning about all the competitors, but I know one of the reasons the Thai government wants Kaletra so badly is that it doesn't have to be refrigerated -- many of the alternatives to Kaletra do require refrigeration, something that many Thais cannot afford. The drug you are talking about, Prezista, is starting to catch on in the US. I don't know about the price, but I wouldn't be surprised if it costs more than Kaletra, which has been around for several years.

I've just heard about the Brazil decision, and will probably write about it later.

[KendallJ]

I've finally decided to start a blog on the pharmaceutical industry (I'm a copywriter for a pharm ad agency) from an Objectivist perspective -- I think the world could use an awful lot more reason in regard to health care, and all the essays I've had stewing in my head need to get written, darn it!

So, here it is: ReasonPharm. There's only one essay up at the moment (re: recent uproar among AIDS activists about Abbott Laboratories), but I'm hoping to put a new one up every week. Enjoy!

Hi Stella and welcome to the board! This is a great idea. The pharma industry is so abused today and frankly the one place where innovation is still occuring (let's hope it stays tha way). Abbott should have pulled the drug entirely from the Brazilian market and not cave into such a blatant usurpation of property rights as patent breaking. Latin America is a piddling market for pharma anyway. Abbott never would have missed it.

I used to do market development for a contract manufacturer for pharmaceuticals, and also got to interface with some of the VC firms in the pharma world. It is a fascinating industry.

I've got a blog post planned on drug reimportation here in the US. It is essentailly reimportation of socialism disguised as a simple purchasing decision, and so evil it makes my blood boil.

Also, would highly recommend you get tied into Diana Hsieh's OBloggers mailing list.

[stellavision]

I've got a blog post planned on drug reimportation here in the US. It is essentailly reimportation of socialism disguised as a simple purchasing decision, and so evil it makes my blood boil.

I thoroughly agree!

Also, would highly recommend you get tied into Diana Hsieh's OBloggers mailing list.

Yup, just did that last night. I've actually thought about joining for a while now -- I've kept another blog for several years now, but since I almost never touch on Objectivism in that blog I didn't feel quite right joining the list. But now that I have this more topical blog as well, I'm in!

[exaltron]

Hey Stella- welcome to Oism online! Looks like you're off to a good start with the new blog- The Abbot piece is excellent. I'm encouraged that they didn't cave in to the Thai government's bullying, a rarity in this industry unfortunately. What really floors me is the thought that if the AIDS epidemic had not hit the free-market US as it did, all of these life-saving drugs most likely wouldn't exist for them to loot. Hence the demand that the Pharma industry spend billions on tropical diseases, even though it is almost guaranteed that they would not be able to market such drugs on anything resembling mutual terms.

Reading all the press/comments about SICKO it's becoming clear that more and more people are adopting a "loot first, ask questions later" philosophy in regards to health care. Moore himself has stated openly that he would like to see the concept of profit completely eradicated from the health care industry (see video). The guy is plucked right out of Atlas Shrugged: who cares about profit, self-interest and innovation, we need health care for everyone now, so let's just freeze time and technology where it is until we can get it all figured out.

I haven't checked in on this in a while, but last I read, my predictions about price controls following closely on the heels of the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit seem to be materializing.

[edited to add link to Moore video]

Edited July 13, 2007 by exaltron