In an earlier post, I wrote about the Genetech lobbying efforts to plaster the Congressional Record with their lobby scripts – getting access to 42 Congressmen. In talking to people today, a lot of people had trouble following what all the hooplah is about. Here’s a crude explanation:
Wikipedia has a good write-up on the issue of Generic Drugs. The short version is that a drug company has exclusive rights to produce a drug until the patent runs out, then anyone can make it. So the developers of new drugs have a period of years to profit from their development, then the drug is on the free market and much cheaper. Drug companies argue that they spent a lot of time and money to develop the drug, they should reap the reward. Consumers argue that their access to new drugs is limited by high costs. The laws about generics are compromises between the two positions.
These substances are not quite drugs. They are bio-engineered antibodies or other biologic substances that have specific targets [like tumor cells]. They are hard to develop and hard to make. Currently, they cost a mint – like several hundred thousand dollars yearly for a treatment. Once developed, they don’t cost that much to make. So there’s a need for some kind of compromise. The version introduced by Representatives Eshoo and Bowers essentially give the developers exclusivity forever [12 years] because the substance would be superceded by something new in that time period. And the costs are outrageous.! Now read Jane Hamsher’s original article about the Bill as it stands.
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