One of the big problems facing our healthcare system is the rising cost of medicine. The rising costs of medicine are dictated by “the market.” The “market” is a made-up construct that must continue to add additional profits until humanity reaches … magic? Anythewhos, one of Donald Trump’s big lies during the campaign was how he was going to make sure drug companies—under the public and political pressure created by news stories like pharmaceutical company Mylan’s EpiPen gouging and
”pharma-bro” Martin Shkreli’s fish-in-a-barrell grotesqueness—would stop the maddening drug price increases, and maybe even lower those prices. Trump, his administration, and the Republican Party have made utterly clear over the last two years* that the only thing they are focused on is the un-democratic consolidation of power that allows a very small oligarchy continue to bleed the rest of the population of money and resources without fear of reprisal. Pharmaceutical powerhouse Pfizer has decided to raise prices on 100 of their “products.”
Pfizer, the nation’s largest standalone drugmaker, announced today that it will raise prices on more than 100 prescription medications, according to a scoop by The Financial Times. The average cost increase on pharmaceuticals is about 9%, and the price increases are effective as of yesterday, July 1, 2018. Taking into account the nearly 10% January price hikes, some drug costs have now risen over 20% this calendar year.
Some of those drugs include Chantrix for smoking and … Viagra!!! But as the WSJ points out, some of these drugs aren’t just for your penis. Some of them are for your lungs and your entire circulatory system.
The increases apply to widely used drugs including lung-cancer treatment Xalkori, Norvasc blood-pressure pills and Lyrica pain capsules, according to drug-pricing data from RELX PLC’s Elsevier information business. Many lift the list prices by 9.4% and by double-digit percentages for the year overall.
