Posted by Simon (193.113.185.163) on November 04, 2000 at 11:50:16:
In Reply to: Lack of sleep and paranoia. *S* posted by Testy on November 04, 2000 at 06:13:19:
Unless the drug companies are operating a cartel, which I very much doubt, it would seem to be obvious commercially that other companies would be trying to steal Glaxo's Imigran monopoly. Hence Xeneca's zolmitriptan being cheaper and so on.
I'm not so suspicious of them, as after all over here, the Glaxo-Wellcome trust is the major sponsor of a lot of neuro work, including much of Goadsby's backing.
Finally, there will presumably come a time when the Imigan license and research reverts to a generic format (as with Nurofen/ibuprofen) and at that point the costs will come down.
It may be an unpopular comment, (and one which is made more easily from this side of the Atlantic with a different healthcare system) but they are a commercial company, and entitled to benefit while they can from their efforts.
I've actually just acquired a contact at Glaxo, and when I next get in touch will enquire about how one investigates costs, and the way they recoup their research costs over a limited period of exclusive ownership.
Maybe the real cause is that governments are not prepared to fund the research themselves, which would make the results nominally the possession of the public, and the ridiculous attitudes of the insurnace companies.
Simon