/biz/ - Business & Finance

>>51244113
The primary source of high drug prices is monopolies granted by the government to pharmaceutical companies in the form of drug patents. Without competition in pricing, many drugs have risen out of the affordability of lower-income consumers.
>Mark Cuban of Shark Tank fame recently launched the Cost Plus Drug Company. The goal of Cost Plus is to offer medications at the cheapest prices possible, charging only a 15 percent markup and pharmacist fee.
>Gleevec generics are listed for $17.10, over $2,485 lower than the typical retail price of $2,502. Cuban’s business model might be successful if the authorities permit it to operate. Cuban’s business comes at an important time, when the looming threat of drug price controls is at our doorstep.

a study (https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2545691)) published in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) in 2016 found:
>The most important factor that allows manufacturers to set high drug prices is market exclusivity,
protected by monopoly rights awarded upon Food and Drug Administration approval and by patents.