Republicans blocking coronavirus bill that limits how much drugmakers can charge for vaccine: report

Do you want to pay $500 for a shot? How many people are in your family? You might have to sell your furniture to pay for the shots.

 

Ech. Cheap = full of preservatives and side effects.

But with Big Pharmas liability protections, it doesn't matter how much they can charge- the vaccine will be nasty regardless, because theres no reason for it not to be.

I won't be taking it either way.

 

And you can tell it is the truth because you put it in bold!

 

I'll just leave this here...

Trump: Administration 'very strongly' considering closing southern border amid coronavirus outbreak

 

I don't fault the willingness to verify the reporting, but I chose the Slate article because the headline also made it clear what was the policy fight referenced from the quoted Politico Article. I also did not see anything in the Politico or CNN or RollCall article to dispute the Slate summary. I also intentionally chose a middle ground approach by not using the DailyKos headline of, "Republicans holding up emergency coronavirus spending to protect drug company price gouging."

I think it is very much worth the fight to help ensure that any potential vaccine for this virus is also kept affordable. There is every indication that this virus will become a yearly thing and if we can avoid having to pay 500$ per shot, per person every year because of a policy fight made right now, then it is one worth having.

I also double checked the Politico and CNN articles on this subject and saw zero reference to Elijah Cummings or HR3, just a push back from Republicans to strike the “fair and reasonable price” federal procurement standard for the vaccines and treatments that will be developed and purchased with the emergency funds. I get that you think the "media lies," but it's your allegation, so back it up.

 

How do you set the price of something that doesn't exist?

Market: How much do you want to pay for a self charging electric car?

Government: You can only legally charge 10 bucks.

Market: I guess I'll just keep making regular cars then.

 

I work on a promising new drug target. In fact, my lab was the first to identify a blocker for it. I can tell you, ALL of the groundbreaking work on that drug target was done in federally-funded academia, including cloning, crystal structures, target validation, functional studies. Now, that the target is validated and a safe bet, big pharma is jumping in. However, without all the initial basic research, enabled through tax-payer's money, there would be no new promising drug target. That's the same for pretty much ANY known drug target.

Note, I am not dismissing the value of big pharma, academics are notoriously bad at developing promising concepts to an actual product. However, the big money pharma is making with blockbuster drugs is only possible because of the groundbreaking basic research in academia, long before any commercial interest is even imagined.

 

PI Initiated trials for the win!!

 

There are already policies in place to stop gouging... This is about the Dems trying to sneak in more price controls.

They are also trying to attach this to the new FISA bill.

 

You criticize for referring to articles from extreme right wing sources, as you should, and then you expand our use of extreme left wing sources (DailyKos, CNN and Salon). Hmmmm.

I will wait to see what shakes out. It sounds like Democrat talking points pushed out ahead of the following news day to get a lead on the spin to me.

You didn't ask the question about attaching FISA to the bill. Would you disagree with anyone trying to attach amendments to this bill that have nothing to do with Coronavirus if that is the case?

 

But some Republicans are worried that any sort of price controls on the vaccine could curb a robust market-based response by pharmaceutical companies to find a cure.

“I don’t think it’s a legitimate sticking point. There is not an example of a vaccine developed for a pandemic that’s ever not been made available in a reasonable way to people,” said Sen. Roy Blunt, a Republican from Missouri who chairs the health subcommittee on appropriations.

https://fox2now.com/news/national/v...oronavirus-funding-package-talks-in-congress/

 

it's not that are actually worried that someone may pay a dollar more than necessary, it's that with an open supply / demand market it will be too readily available for them to create havoc and the accompanying political narrative with unnecessary spot shortages.

The want people to die due to shortages, and then spin it to reflect on President Trump.

 

They have set China up to be our critical and damn near sole supplier for essential pharmaceuticals and medical supplies to the USA. Notwithstanding the present big break in this supply chain, which is due to a virus, China also could do what India is doing and strictly limit exports of pharmaceuticals to the countries which India supplies and has a stranglehold over.

It's time to bring ALL manufacturing back to the USA.

It's time to KILL globalism.

 

You can set the price by subsidizing the cost (i.e. The federal government will reimburse the drug cost directly after the consumer pays ~75$) or by mandating the profit margins (i.e. The cost of the drug shall not exceed ~10% of the cost required to manufacture the drug).

 

I saw that Republicans were raising the concern about FISA being attached, but I saw no actual reporting that Democrats were actually attempting to do such.

 

price controls on a Vaccine that hasn't been invented yet? well ok then.

 

Salon and CNN are not extreme left wing sources, neither is Roll Call or Politico. I still haven't seen anything to dispute the headline from Salon.

No, I don't see why FISA reauthorization should be attached to this bill especially in light of Trump's public unwillingness to re-authorize FISA without adjustments.

 

Do you want to pay significantly more for inferior products? Because that is how you pay significantly more for inferior products.

 

Why would you assume a made in the USA product would be inferior to a Chinese knockoff?

Of course I want to pay more for a made in the USA product, even if it isn't quite as good as an imported product -- because Americans are my countrymen and I want them to earn a decent wage, not Chinese slave wages -- or lack good enough jobs.

 

I see your problem

 

You do hear the level of communism or socialism in that type of logic though, don't you?

 

Probably should get a vaccine before we start knocking the profit out of it.. research and development is a costly and risky investment.

 

The USA was a better country when no Communist products were allowed to be imported except firecrackers.

Damn Nixon to a fiery Hell.

 

Looks like they are referencing this study

https://www.pnas.org/content/115/10/2329
Significance

Abstract

 

I'll let Blue cross/Blue shield deal with the cost, but good luck on your crusade