[BuddyQ]

ymu,
This:[ QUOTE ]
This prospectus is addressed primarily to drug companies, with good reason. One of them now has 10 products with more than $1bn in sales each, and some 165 million people worldwide take its medicines. Its market capitalisation recently passed that of Microsoft Corporation and is second only to that of General Electric. In 2000, the top nine drug companies in the United States had over $155bn in revenue. The top executives in these companies were paid between $3m and $17m plus stock options valued between $11m and $73m. Drug companies have the cake, and they are eating it too. Put simply, we want a piece of that cake. If you are not a member of this elite club, you may want to skip to table 3, where we list our bargain basement services. Once we have paid off our mortgages, we will consider pro bono work. Meanwhile, if you would like our help, please make sure to send us your credit card number and bank balance.

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Does not in any way refute This:[ QUOTE ]
You're becoming ridiculous, so I'll give you the quick summary, even though you failed to provide the calculation you claim is so easy to do.

If a company wants to be in business, they need to make a profit. In fact, they need to profit MORE than a safer alternative such as government bonds or other, safer companies. They need investors to buy a share and take on the risk because very few companies can run on the angel investor who is willing to pony up the money it takes.

When it comes to new drugs, pharma spends hundreds of millions per drug title to get it all the way to market, and most of them *fail*. In america, they get patent protection from generics and can charge whatever the market will bear for a 7 year period. sometimes they can finagle an extension but basically they get 7 years to recoup their losses on the other drugs they tried to develop.

Once they have the drug developed it only costs a few pennies to make a unit. They can sell drugs to your socialist country under price control laws ONLY because it is a marginal extra profit on the returns they make here in america. If America has the price controls of other socialist countries... the company would shut down for lack of profit and lack of investment. It's a very simple calculation. If capital can get a better return elsewhere, it will. This would leave pharmas in the cold, closing up shop. Leaving you without Lipitor or take your pick.

You benefit from the profits of drug companies in america. The "obscene" profits you reference are nonexistent. Research the returns on pharma companies. they are in line with the rest of the S&P 500.

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Do you have any real, non-rhetorical rebuttal for the above?