No tariffs on UK pharma products sold into the US market, EU is at 15%.
But the UK have to pay 25% more for the drugs. Well half for the drugs, and half to trump.
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25% more than they are paying now for new drugs, a calculation that hadn’t changed for 20 years. Essentially US consumers have been subsidizing the UK and EU for decades, paying 3X - 10X for drugs that are developed by US companies.
It will make no difference to patients in the UK who pay either nothing or 9.35 per prescription.
It’s explained fairly well here.
If US pharmaceutical companies are making billions then nobody is subsidizing them
The UK will also increase the overall amount the NHS spends on medicines, with a target to increase that spending from 0.3% of GDP to 0.6% of GDP over the next 10 years.
That piece catches my eye in the BBC report. A country struggling with national finances agreed to spend more public money on drugs at the behest of another state to avoid tariffs.
That’s a bit fucked up.
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Especially when the other state is reliably unreliable.
What’s fucked up is that drug prices charged in the US are 4-5X higher than in the EU and UK, even though the majority of pharma companies are US owned. Pharma companies don’t care where their profits are made, as long as their targets are met, they don’t care if US consumers are screwed over. It’s ludicrous that the UK for example is paying rates for newly developed drugs that were negotiated 20 years ago.
New druga are expensive to develop (at least $200M per drug and closer to $1B if you include failed candidates and drug approval), it’s perfectly reasonable that the cost is shared among countries who avail of the drugs.
Incorrect. Let me give you an example you can relate to…
Let’s say you build two fixies from parts, put lots of work into them, and then offer them for sale to your mates for 200 each. One mate offers 150 and another offers 250. You accept both offers as you are getting the 400 you wanted. The mate who paid 250 is subsidizing the other mate who paid 150.
That’s exactly what’s happening with drug pricing.
Nobody forced the drug companies to make these deals tbf. That the NHS bought in bulk always helped. If they choose not to procure certain drugs they’d not good for these companies either.
US pharma and the insurance companies have been fleecing Americans tbh.
Mate. A quick google suggests the big companies have profits of 10bn per year- seems.like they are overcharging everyone
Drug prices are only a tiny part of the way in which US citizens are fleeced by medical companies.
I was looking through my Laya Healthcare online portal the other day. I was in hospital for 5 nights back in 2020 getting pumped full of drugs, big medical emergency. I never got charged for it and I always thought it was free. Turned out it was free because Laya covered the cost of the 5 nights - just over €3,000 for the 5 nights and all expenses… There are more expensive hotels in this country. I’d say €3,000 wouldn’t cover the cost of the toilet paper for 5 nights in a US hospital. My Laya premium is under €3,000 per annum. My da’s an old man - always in the Mater Private, in there at the moment. Should have a ward in the Mater Private named after him at this stage. This has been going on for years. I’d say he basically pays fuck all for his health insurance. I’ve never asked him but we aren’t rich anyway.
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