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And the drug companies aren't ripping us off?
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By *-and-K OP Couple
over a year ago
Back of Beyond |
Some people here know what my job is ( purchase drugs for an nhs trust)You may or may not know that in the last couple of weeks Viagra has lost its patent protection.
We were buying viagra at £12 a tablet (have to pay the contracted DoH CMU rate)now its patentless we can buy them for £1 per box of EIGHT  This is just the very very tip of a massive iceberg. The NHS (you as a taxpayer) is being screwed by these companies and they are allowed to get away with it.
There said it got it off my chest rant over  |
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"Some people here know what my job is ( purchase drugs for an nhs trust)You may or may not know that in the last couple of weeks Viagra has lost its patent protection.
We were buying viagra at £12 a tablet (have to pay the contracted DoH CMU rate)now its patentless we can buy them for £1 per box of EIGHT This is just the very very tip of a massive iceberg. The NHS (you as a taxpayer) is being screwed by these companies and they are allowed to get away with it.
There said it got it off my chest rant over "
But the drug companies say they need to charge to help develop new drugs/research etc  |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"Some people here know what my job is ( purchase drugs for an nhs trust)You may or may not know that in the last couple of weeks Viagra has lost its patent protection.
We were buying viagra at £12 a tablet (have to pay the contracted DoH CMU rate)now its patentless we can buy them for £1 per box of EIGHT This is just the very very tip of a massive iceberg. The NHS (you as a taxpayer) is being screwed by these companies and they are allowed to get away with it.
There said it got it off my chest rant over "
I know you mean well telling us this information,but should really be doing this and poss be putting your job on the line, is this information not for you eyes only, if I found a member of staff discussing my costs to my customers he would be sacked on the spot |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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We were buying viagra at £12 a tablet (have to pay the contracted DoH CMU rate)now its patentless we can buy them for £1 per box of EIGHT This is just the very very tip of a massive iceberg. The NHS (you as a taxpayer) is being screwed by these companies and they are allowed to get away with it. 
Can u get us a box lol
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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Drug companies are businesses like any other. They are there to make profit. These drugs cost a lot to develop. The companies manufacturing generic versions do not have the development costa and expense of trials. Instead of moaning about the high cost you should be lauding the lapse of the patent, signifying that it has been deemed that the manufacturer has earned enough to cover it's development costs and now other manufacturers can produce them at a competitive price. |
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I would have thought that as someone involved in the procurement of drugs you would be only too aware of the research and development costs of drugs manufacturers?
Pfizer will have spent millions on the development and testing of Viagra, the company is also one of the world's biggest contributors of cheap and free drugs to UNICEF projects around the world.
Incidentally Pfizer invested approx. $9.5 Billion in their R&D budget in 2009.
You must know all of that....and more?
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By *yrdwomanWoman
over a year ago
Putting the 'cum' in Eboracum |
"I think the point being missed is that the nhs are buying them at that price... Then selling them at 12quid each. "
No, the OP said the NHS was being screwed, so they are paying full whack and the drug companies no longer have to charge them that. However I reckon it takes time for generic brands to start up so I can't see the problem.
Of course, I don't use Viagra  |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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The NHS *is* being screwed on price. Sometimes it is because (no offence to the OP) those in charge of purchasing are incompetent, sometimes it might possibly be because they are -ahem- very cosy with their suppliers.
I can give one real-life example of a pharma co. coining it on the NHS as told to me by an oncologist (cancer specialist):
A very expensive chemotherapy drug comes in a 50ml bottle. The dose for a patient is 25ml. The other 25ml cannot be used on another patient and cannot be stored for future use so it has to be thrown away. The NHS has asked for the drug co to produce 25ml bottles, priced accordingly and the drug co have refused. Don't ask me why the bottle size and dose size were not matched in the first place! |
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"The NHS *is* being screwed on price. Sometimes it is because (no offence to the OP) those in charge of purchasing are incompetent, sometimes it might possibly be because they are -ahem- very cosy with their suppliers.
I can give one real-life example of a pharma co. coining it on the NHS as told to me by an oncologist (cancer specialist):
A very expensive chemotherapy drug comes in a 50ml bottle. The dose for a patient is 25ml. The other 25ml cannot be used on another patient and cannot be stored for future use so it has to be thrown away. The NHS has asked for the drug co to produce 25ml bottles, priced accordingly and the drug co have refused. Don't ask me why the bottle size and dose size were not matched in the first place!"
Name that drug.....I'm VERY interested |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"Some people here know what my job is ( purchase drugs for an nhs trust)You may or may not know that in the last couple of weeks Viagra has lost its patent protection.
We were buying viagra at £12 a tablet (have to pay the contracted DoH CMU rate)now its patentless we can buy them for £1 per box of EIGHT This is just the very very tip of a massive iceberg. The NHS (you as a taxpayer) is being screwed by these companies and they are allowed to get away with it.
There said it got it off my chest rant over
I know you mean well telling us this information,but should really be doing this and poss be putting your job on the line, is this information not for you eyes only, if I found a member of staff discussing my costs to my customers he would be sacked on the spot"
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I wouldn't mind so much as after all they have the outlay, most of their expenditure is govt red tape etc....
After the patents thingy expires then we're all entitled to buy these drugs at morrisons etc....! That's cool, I don't mind waiting.
What really gets me is that the same company has been selling this drug all over the world at a price that won't be reduced now due to the fact that it was ridiculously cheap in those "unpatented" countries anyhow! |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"Some people here know what my job is ( purchase drugs for an nhs trust)You may or may not know that in the last couple of weeks Viagra has lost its patent protection.
We were buying viagra at £12 a tablet (have to pay the contracted DoH CMU rate)now its patentless we can buy them for £1 per box of EIGHT This is just the very very tip of a massive iceberg. The NHS (you as a taxpayer) is being screwed by these companies and they are allowed to get away with it.
There said it got it off my chest rant over
I know you mean well telling us this information,but should really be doing this and poss be putting your job on the line, is this information not for you eyes only, if I found a member of staff discussing my costs to my customers he would be sacked on the spot"
Well you would be a very unrealistic business man if you think people don't talk, about costs and wages, plus other operating procedures, its called frr speech, and I doubt you could ever stop that in a free country. all my employees sign a confidentiality agreement, but being realistic, I have nothing to hide, I am in business to make a profit, not to rip people off, if you have secrets, that you would rather not have discussed, alwayd better not to tell people. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"To be honest I'm more concerned re the 1200 unnecessary deaths at stafford hospital and the abuse and neglect of patients by some nursing staff.Dying... now that's really being screwed over."
That is easy, we have doctors & nurses doing budget/people manager jobs. Not to mention a government who sees fit to cut budgets so deep that the only staff wards can afford are 'untrained' health care workers. No doctor or nurse ever goes into their profession to abuse and neglect-it simply is not the case. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"
That is easy, we have doctors & nurses doing budget/people manager jobs. Not to mention a government who sees fit to cut budgets so deep that the only staff wards can afford are 'untrained' health care workers. No doctor or nurse ever goes into their profession to abuse and neglect-it simply is not the case. "
Many of the scandals in poor care occurred during a period of record spending on the NHS. Things will not get better now unless there is a massive change of culture in the NHS. It's all part of the kiss-up kick-down culture encouraged by the head of the NHS, ex-communist David Nicholson.
You are right though, no one enters the profession to abuse and neglect but as the recent cases of Kevin Fore and Tracey-Ann White to name but two show, it happens.  |
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By *-and-K OP Couple
over a year ago
Back of Beyond |
I pointed this out because aside from staff salaries, the biggest by far outlay in the NHS is on drugs, our latest one to hit the headlines Bortezomid, a cancer treatment-price £19.000 per 28 tablets
So when people hear horror stories of overspends in the NHS, this is where it is going. Big business sees the NHS as a cash cow to be milked again and again. The NHS as a massive buyer of products as one poster said, should have shrewder buyers, The central team who are negotiating national contracts are useless. Its about time they stood up and said, 'right we will pay this and not a penny more' Trouble is you then have the drug companies bleating to the press (as is happening with bortezomib) that they have a new treatment but the NHS won't pay the price. They as companies have far too much leverage. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"Some people here know what my job is ( purchase drugs for an nhs trust)You may or may not know that in the last couple of weeks Viagra has lost its patent protection.
We were buying viagra at £12 a tablet (have to pay the contracted DoH CMU rate)now its patentless we can buy them for £1 per box of EIGHT This is just the very very tip of a massive iceberg. The NHS (you as a taxpayer) is being screwed by these companies and they are allowed to get away with it.
There said it got it off my chest rant over
I know you mean well telling us this information,but should really be doing this and poss be putting your job on the line, is this information not for you eyes only, if I found a member of staff discussing my costs to my customers he would be sacked on the spot
Well you would be a very unrealistic business man if you think people don't talk, about costs and wages, plus other operating procedures, its called frr speech, and I doubt you could ever stop that in a free country. all my employees sign a confidentiality agreement, but being realistic, I have nothing to hide, I am in business to make a profit, not to rip people off, if you have secrets, that you would rather not have discussed, alwayd better not to tell people."
I don't think myself or any other business owner are being unrealistic to expect staff not to tell our customers what we pay for our products, as you said we provide a service and expect to make profit, and that's all the staff need to know, we have a system in place where our true costs of products is hidden, all they need to know is the selling price, but as I said if I caught any of my staff telling customers what we paid for our products they would be marched of the premises.
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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People love to talk, classic case "I am fed up working so hard for a pittance, there making millions, wife replys stop moaning im just booking our holiday, what staff see in the till they think is profit. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"I would have thought that as someone involved in the procurement of drugs you would be only too aware of the research and development costs of drugs manufacturers?
Pfizer will have spent millions on the development and testing of Viagra, the company is also one of the world's biggest contributors of cheap and free drugs to UNICEF projects around the world.
Incidentally Pfizer invested approx. $9.5 Billion in their R&D budget in 2009.
You must know all of that....and more?
"
Totally true and I agree.
Without patent protection there would be very limited drug development and innovation in the pharmaceutical field.
Drug companies (together with vaccines, increased sanitation, better nutrition and education) have been instrumental in increasing the life expectancy in the western world to what it is today (a European will on average live 30 more years than someone in the third world). Yes, they are in it to make profit but they certainly add value to society as well. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"People love to talk, classic case "I am fed up working so hard for a pittance, there making millions, wife replys stop moaning im just booking our holiday, what staff see in the till they think is profit."
Yep your spot on |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"Some people here know what my job is ( purchase drugs for an nhs trust)You may or may not know that in the last couple of weeks Viagra has lost its patent protection.
We were buying viagra at £12 a tablet (have to pay the contracted DoH CMU rate)now its patentless we can buy them for £1 per box of EIGHT This is just the very very tip of a massive iceberg. The NHS (you as a taxpayer) is being screwed by these companies and they are allowed to get away with it.
There said it got it off my chest rant over
I know you mean well telling us this information,but should really be doing this and poss be putting your job on the line, is this information not for you eyes only, if I found a member of staff discussing my costs to my customers he would be sacked on the spot"
Drug wholesale and retail prices are available in the public domain via the BNF and MIMS. |
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