Seeing that my OTC (over-the-counter) allergy pills costs 1-6¢ wholesale in developing countries, and noting that it cost me at least 10× that, and thinking "wow, even generic pharmaceuticals are huge profit."
Generic drug markups and the prospect of DIY insulin
6 tweets · May 2019 · 5 likes · 0 retweets · read on Twitter
Then thinking about this @IFTF newsletter I got today that has developed a simple no-patent recipe for making tons of insulin, and about drug-prices more generally... ...how hard are drugmakers going to fight to stop this DIY tech?
I don't have a coherent train of thought here so I'll just dump a bunch of relevant links: Here's a thread by someone who does #insulin4all activism twitter.com/lollydaggle/st…
Americans driving to Canada to buy insulin there. Note that Canadian insulin manufacturers are still making lots of profit compared to manufacturers in many other countries. newsweek.com/caravan-americ…
Story about a Swiss company selling pharmaceuticals to UNICEF *below* cost, thanks to ultra-efficient manufactoring & clever budgeting.
Synthesis: I imagine a world with a device that will efficiently synthesize insulin for self/friends, & the device would cost < 2 months' supply of insulin in USA. And yet, knowing lobbying, probably this device will be illegal, instead of the predatory pricing being illegal. 😧