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Comment by praneshp | Hacker News Reader

American prices are not high because they pay for R+D. For the medicines, maybe. I'm epileptic, and the equipment that was used for my treatment in India was consistently better than the one my neurologist used for examination when I moved here.

Essential drugs are cheap because of not paying for R+D, plus government subsidies.

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> Essential drugs are cheap because of not paying for R+D

Not sure I'd agree there. In the west, even mundane drugs that don't need all that R&D, like common painkillers, antibiotics, vitamins, etc. are expensive. I think the issue in the west stems from regulations that make it difficult for new players to penetrate the market, even for generics. Running a cartel becomes easier that way.

Compare [1] and [2].

[1] http://www.walgreens.com/store/c/tylenol/ID=957-brand

[2] http://www.medindia.net/drug-price/acetaminophen/crocin-500m...

Hey, I meant essential drugs in India! Sorry for the confusion.

Also, the term I should have used was "Life saving drugs". An example would be Sorbitrate (http://www.everydayhealth.com/drugs/sorbitrate). Crocin is not something that falls in that category in India.

I'm afraid I don't get your point. Isosorbide dinitride costs about US-35$-75$ [1] and IN-0.4$ [2], about 100 tablets in both cases. The patent was published in 1979, so it should have long expired by now, and would be a generic drug[3]. Whatever the German company spent on R&D would have been recovered before the patent expired.

[1] http://www.goodrx.com/isosorbide-dinitrate

[2] http://medlineindia.com/cardiovascular/isosorbide_dinitrate....

[3] http://www.google.com/patents/US4156736

My point is somewhat similar to yours. R+D is only one reason pushing drug prices up. But some life saving drugs are cheaper in India because the government subsidizes their cost, which doesn't happen in the US.

A medication that I take daily costs about $35 per month after insurance covers part of it. I get a years supply from India for ~ $11. The identical pill.

There seem to be quite a few of us chronics on this thread! My own meds cost about US-1200$ and IN-100$, per month. But I find it understandable in my own case... the drug is new, and the patent is nowhere near expiring.

In case you were telling me the price because you thought I disagreed that it's cheaper in India, I don't. My point was R&D cost is not the reason why common drugs are cheaper.

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