Asthma Inhaler Costs — ripoff alert

Asthmatic abuse:  (definition)  The systematic and intentional market manipulation of asthma medication prices resulting in large corporate profits and financial ruin for people with asthma (see also: racketeering, theft, extortion, corruption, complicity and congress).

Price gouging of people with asthma by U.S. pharmaceutical companies is legendary (New York Times).   Now some of those same companies want to move their corporate offices to other countries to avoid U.S. taxes.  RIPOFF is the technical term.

An inhaler is a pressurized gadget to make a mist of a medication so a person can inhale the mist  (see the picture at the right).   It should have never been patented:  it is useful, but it is trivial and certainly not novel.   Now, through patent manipulations and suits there are NO GENERIC INHALERS FOR ASTHMATICS; there are only high priced brand name products — despite the fact this type of sprayer and medication has been available for 40 years.

Albuterol is the most common anti-asthma inhaler.  The drug is easy to manufacture (costs a few cents) and the inhaler is trivial (costs less than a dollar).  The US price listed below is from  Costco (considered the lowest price source in the US).  The Indian price quoted below is from allmedsdeal.com (this is not an endorsement,  just an example).

• The US price:  PROAIR HFA 90 MCG INHALER (TEV)       $55.46
  
• The Indian price:  Ventorlin CFC Free Inhaler / Salbutamol 100mcg  (GSK)    $4.40

These are the same drugs:   US price $55, Indian price $4.   GSK is a reputable UK company that  manufactures albuterol, sells it worldwide, but not in the US.  Without the unreasonable market restrictions and nearly insane FDA rules asthmatics would be able to purchase albuterol for about $4 per inhaler.

THE SOLUTION:

Patents should be allowed to exist, but consumer prices  must be limited.  Countries other than the US exercise this control.   Citizens fight price-gouging companies — why not fight price-gouging drug companies?  Medicare insists doctors accept payment at the lowest rate offered, so why should Medicare  fail to insist on the lowest price drug companies offer elsewhere in the world?

The current laws for pharmaceuticals are so complicated it defies understanding.  If you like complexity, like laws and like legal suits then continue the current system.  Instead, consider the following:

What part of this simple rule would be difficult to understand:

 THE RETAIL PRICE OF ALBUTEROL INHALER SHALL BE $4.

That’s the kind of pharmaceutical control the US needs.