Last week in the American press there was a message about how a small pharmaceutical company acquired the rights to the old antiparasitic drug daraprim, after which inflated the price on it from $ 13. 50 to $ 750, according to the Internet edition for girls and women from 14 to 35 years Pannochka. net As a result, a scandal broke out.
Newspapers portrayed the real villain in this story as the founder of the company Turing Pharmaceuticals, but the real villain, according to analyst and writer Tod Cooperman, is an American state machine that does not allow residents of the country to legally be treated with cheap drugs purchased from licensed companies abroad.
He conducted his own small research and found on the site PharmacyChecker. com the same daraprim that you can buy in England for only $ 6. However, to carry such drugs for treatment from abroad is a violation of local legislation.
"So, who is protected by American laws - our patients or the big pharmaceutical business? "- asks the question of Kuperman.
The analyst in his article writes that US residents could purchase copies of almost all medicines outside the country, saving at the same time an average of 80%, and in some cases more than 99% (!) Of cash.
According to Kuperman, the US government and regulators not only put legal barriers, but also make great efforts to intimidate ordinary citizens. A medicine from Russia, Turkey, India or China should seem dangerous to a conscious American only for the reason that it is not from America.
The pages of The New York Times tell about such a wonderful product as Jardiance (empagliflozin), which can save the lives of thousands of patients with diabetes mellitus. In the US, Jardiance costs about $ 350-400 per month for treatment, which is good for the poor Americans. Acquiring its analogues abroad, they could be treated for only $ 110 per month, which for some patients would be a fundamental difference. But for this to change the American laws.
In an era of free market relations, US pharmaceutical companies have the right to seek cheap resources, technology and labor around the world, but drug users inside this supposedly free country are not allowed to look for cheap medicines abroad. At least legally.
This is due not to the tremulous concern for consumer safety, but to the elementary lobbying of Big Pharma's interests in the government of the country. The US authorities are doing everything to ensure that local consumers do not exchange tablets for $ 750 for similar tablets for $ 6, taking advantage of the free market relations.
"Is there anything dangerous in the drugs that are sold in pharmacies in Canada, England, Australia or Germany, where safety standards are as high. Do you think that residents of the same Turkey or India are afraid to buy their medicines? Of course, no, "- writes Kuperman.
Despite the inserted sticks in the wheels of the free market, about 5 million Americans still buy drugs abroad because of exorbitant prices in the pharmacies of their native country.
These are the findings of a study conducted in 2013 by the Commonwealth Fund.
"I am very familiar with this issue, because it was in 2003 that I launched the PharmacyChecker project, which helps Americans find an affordable alternative to our drugs. If this question disturbs you, ask your presidential candidate for future elections that he is going to change. If you intend to continue to pay $ 750 for the fact that the world is worth a penny - keep sitting and being silent, "- calls his compatriots Kuperman.
medbe. en.