Why does America have a shortage of certain life saving drugs?

Your link answers the question. There’s no money it for big pharma to make them once they become generic and your then left relying on other people to make em for you.

Yes, it is sickening. A lot is sickening about healthcare in the US.

@Lightlyseared
I agree
@ANef_is_Enuf
I agree.
I want to make people think about this.

America is still pissed off at themselves for curing polio and doesn’t want to spend the money to find more cures.

I don’t find it sickening, although it is disturbing. And yes, you should think about it.

Think about this, for example: There’s not a lot of margin in athletic socks, either (to make a comparison with some of the low-margin drugs mentioned in the article). But people still make athletic socks, and you can get them easily at many places. So why can’t you get life-saving drugs that are admittedly a lot more crucial to the survival of some people?

Well, do think about it: Who would willingly take the risk (and make the investment) to make low-margin drugs (low volume, too, because the market for socks is a lot larger) when he could make drugs that earn a much higher margin? (And they earn a much higher margin because they are “more highly valued”, as well as more scarce – normally.) There is a lot of risk in making drugs of any kind; no one is suing sock manufacturers claiming to have been injured, blinded or contracted AIDS or hepatitis through use of the product. When you make your money in socks you can pretty well hold onto it, even if there’s not that much.

Actually, the article also points out something that you – we – should all be happy about. Although foreign manufacturers’ facilities are not monitored and inspected by the FDA, at least someone was on the ball enough to recognize the contamination danger and disrupt – deliberately disrupt – the supply chain of “potentially dangerous” drugs. That’s a good thing. It does no one any good if these drugs are freely and widely available at low cost… and kill people.

@CWOTUS is right. Who cares if there’s no money in it, you can’t blame them, right? (read sarcasm) It’s profit motive over value of a human life. It’s all about the US ‘health’ system.