| Hans-Günter Meyer-Thompson | Buprenorphin
USA. OxyContin Billionaire Patents New Drug for Opioid Treatment
USA. OxyContin Billionaire Patents New Drug for Opioid Treatment
In recent years, America’s pharmaceutical industry has taken it on the chin. Populist demagogues have savaged drug companies for “jacking up” the price of life-saving substances like insulin (a.k.a. honoring their fiduciary duty to maximize shareholder value). These boisterous neo-Bolsheviks will point to the fact that pharmaceuticals are several times more expensive in the U.S. than in other countries, and conclude that our government’s exceptionally strong patent laws — and aberrant refusal to push down drug prices through direct negotiation — are meant to enrich Big Pharma at the working American’s expense. (Daily Intelligencer, USA, 07.09.2018)