Drugs Don't "Cost" $300,000

I almost let this one slide with all the nonsense about the housing market meltdown. The NYT ran an editorial this week discussing the drug Cerezyme, which is used to treat Gaucher disease. Genzyme, the manufacturer of the drug, charges $300,000 for a year's dosage. The editorial missed the key point: the drug does not "cost" $300,000 a year to produce. Most likely it costs no more than a few hundred dollars. The issue is the cost of the research necessary to develop the drug. The absurdity of charging patients $300,000 a year for a drug that is needed for life or health only arises because of the perverse way in which the government finances medical research. The editorial should be looking to alternatives to patent monopolies for financing drug research. If the research had been paid for upfront and the drug was sold for in a competitive market, the NYT would not be wasted ink writing about problems affording it.

--Dean Baker