Bringing our medicine industry back?

[bradt93]

Who thinks it's a good idea to bring our pharmaceutical industry back and starting our medications here again? I think it's a great idea and it's long overdue. It would create a lot of jobs for Americans and they would probably be good paying jobs too. I don't mind paying a little extra for my meds if it meant they are made in the U.S. again. 

[Redhead14]

46 minutes ago, bradt93 said:

I don't mind paying a little extra for my meds if it meant they are made in the U.S. again. 

How old are you?  And, what type of meds are you on if any?

[bradt93]

Just now, Redhead14 said:

How old are you?  And, what type of meds are you on if any?

What does my age have to do with anything?

[Redhead14]

Because if you were older and retired on a fixed income and/or on Medicare and have significant age related ailments and taking certain meds that are already astronomically expensive, I doubt you'd be so OK with paying more.  Or, if you were younger but had a serious ailment.  Even though insurance may pay for certain meds, the cost is astronomical in some cases which in turn drives up the cost of insurance.  Without insurance, my daughter's insulin for her Type 1 diabetes, would cost $800/per month.  Thank god she doesn't have to pay $800/month for the insulin.   $400/per month for the insurance is difficult enough to manage for her.  Imagine if the cost of the insulin was being driven up. 

Edited June 18, 2020 by Redhead14

[bradt93]

Well, I'm pro America, not China. I'm sorry you have to go through that, we need to overhaul insurance in this country too.

[Redhead14]

18 minutes ago, bradt93 said:

Well, I'm pro America, not China. I'm sorry you have to go through that, we need to overhaul insurance in this country too.

No one would debate you on either of the sentiments above.  But for some, it's a catch-22.  Unfortunately, there are lots of other products that are sourced out of the country for the same reason. 

[schlumpy]

1 hour ago, bradt93 said:

Who thinks it's a good idea to bring our pharmaceutical industry back and starting our medications here again? I think it's a great idea and it's long overdue. It would create a lot of jobs for Americans and they would probably be good paying jobs too. I don't mind paying a little extra for my meds if it meant they are made in the U.S. again. 

Great sentiment. I'm sympathetic to the cause but as usual, the devil is in the details.

I'm one of the people that Red mentioned in that I'm retired living on a fixed income. My total tab for monthly medication comes to about eight dollars. It's the usual things that catch up with you once you cross the 55 line. My wife is different matter. She has MS and her treatments are quite costly and in the range of thousands of dollars.

Could I afford one thousand and one to get the pharma industry back here? Probably.

Could I afford tens of thousands to get them back? Not likely.

 

[carhill]

The future.....

Quote

Pharmaceuticals are notorious as some of the most inefficient of all chemicals to produce. To slash the space, time and resources it takes to manufacture drugs, researchers have built a complete pharmaceutical factory with a footprint of just 30.7 square metres.

Chuntian Hu and Salvatore Mascia at CONTINUUS Pharmaceuticals in Woburn, Massachusetts, and their colleagues made drug-factory components that are smaller than those in a standard drug-production line. These components saved space and allowed the team to skip some steps required in conventional drug manufacturing.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03886-6

Combine automation, which is quite affordably used in the US currently, and will bring some more skilled, higher paying jobs back here, with quantity buying increases for more .gov programs like expanded MedicAid, and industry dumping those stupid 'see your doctor for xxx' commercials, and sensible tort reforms to limit lawyer cash registers, that would be a good start.

[preraph]

I guess it's all going to fall on how cheaply we can get the raw materials which will depend on where we have to get them from and how much they want to gouge us!

[bradt93]

I wish I was old enough to remember the great manufacturing growth of the 50s and 60s. I guess it was about the 1980s is when our manufacturing started to go overseas right? It's why I hate "free trade" because there is nothing "free" about it. It's looting of the American economy to benefit other countries economies.

[Redhead14]

3 minutes ago, bradt93 said:

 It's looting of the American economy to benefit other countries economies.

It's not so much about that, Bradt93.  American companies outsourced their production because people in other countries are willing to work for next to nothing.  Companies benefit greatly.

Edited June 18, 2020 by Redhead14

[BC1980]

54 minutes ago, bradt93 said:

I wish I was old enough to remember the great manufacturing growth of the 50s and 60s. I guess it was about the 1980s is when our manufacturing started to go overseas right? It's why I hate "free trade" because there is nothing "free" about it. It's looting of the American economy to benefit other countries economies.

Outsourcing benefits the American economy too. We can get things much cheaper because the labor is less expensive. So people have more disposable income to spend on things like eating out and vacations, which helps the American economy. 

Edited June 18, 2020 by BC1980

[Ellener]

1 hour ago, BC1980 said:

Outsourcing benefits the American economy too. We can get things much cheaper because the labor is less expensive. So people have more disposable income to spend on things like eating out and vacations, which helps the American economy. 

The problem is we often exploit theunderpaid people working to manufacture overseas then also Americans who are sold the products at many times their cost to produce.

 

[BC1980]

That's also true. It's one of those many situations where there is good and bad. You are helping some people while hurting others. 

[Ellener]

I rarely use meds myself these days, use food and exercise and holistic living instead. 

[carhill]

Yeah, last Rx I took was some 30 years ago when going to Africa a number of times, Lariam, it was a lot like that drug they were using for covid, an anti-malarial med. Still, some folks, they need the complex/new drugs, cancer patients are one example, people with brain problems are another. I know one female friend who's now some seven years after multiple cancer dx's, brain, lung, liver, who is still living a relatively normal life but the meds, whoa, thousands per month, no cure, just keeping the cancer at bay. 

[Ruby Slippers]

They exploit slave labor overseas and they gouge American patients/customers so primarily pharma millionaire executives and secondarily shareholders profit. The pharma industry is one of the biggest rackets on earth. The exact same medicine that costs hundreds or thousands in the U.S. costs like $1 in Mexico and Canada.