Never have I read an article and had such a strong negative reaction to it like Caroline Chen's article on Bloomberg.com about Gilead Sciences drug pricing practices.  This article is revelatory and maddening.  It was a revelation (to me) because it's the first article I've read where Big Pharma shares how and why it decides to sell its drugs at vastly different prices worldwide.  Like charging American hepatitis C sufferers $84,000 for Sovaldi and the Egyptians, $900...  And, two, it reveals the impenetrable self-righteousness of Big Pharma.

Just Who Do They Think They Are?

It takes (blank) for Gilead to present its strategy of charging outrageous drug prices to rich countries as the best way to help poor countries afford its products.  As if lowering the price of the drug for everyone was not an option.  But it's Gilead's attempt to paint itself as a good corporate citizen for working with poor nations that is most appalling.  Because it's not true...

In Chen's article, Gilead presents itself as willingly entering into agreements with poor countries and charging them between 1% to 10% of what it charges the U.S.  What Gilead leaves out is that this "strategy" was a preemptive strike to prevent these countries from making their own generic version of the drug.  An Indian generics maker was already in the process of lobbying the Indian government for a license to make an affordable generic version of Sovaldi.

In fact this Sovaldi price issue is just another case of déjà vu all over again.  It was pressure from poor countries and their advocates that made Big Pharma agree to $1 per pill HIV AIDS drugs decades ago.  And it was pressure from the Egyptian and Indian governments that led to $900 hepatitis C treatment (cure) versus $84,000...

This Is Not Over

Big Pharma is the biggest, baddest kid on the block. No industry in the world has higher profit margins than these guys. Gilead Sciences alone had net income of $18.1 billion in 2015. But despite its claims of altruism in its dealings with poor countries, Big Pharma is literally drafting trade deals that will make it harder for poor countries to negotiate lower drug prices. For instance, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal that Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is against, includes data exclusivity rules that will make it harder for poor countries to make generic versions of high price American brand drugs. They simply won’t have the data they need to create them.

Big Pharma makes me sick, and so does an American political system that not only lets them, but also helps them run roughshod over all of us. They’re like the freakin’ mob.