Don’t be surprised by the downvotes. There seems to be a little bit of the “USA BAD” vibe here right now ~ especially in terms of the military.
The US does seem to emphasize training and preparedness over simply having equipment which could lead to higher relative levels of contamination when compared to other militaries. I’m not sure if that is the case, but I recall the training differences being considered a factor when evaluating operational challenges (for example Saddam’s iraqi troops vs Cold War Soviets in the same equipment and situation ~ the Soviets would be expected to present a significantly harder challenge just by virtue of better training ~ at least in theory)
So your point is that there shouldn’t be a way to search for made in the USA stuff because not enough or what?
That the USA shouldn’t try to bring back manufacturing, or what?
At least the military stuff seems to be working pretty well.
Ok; personally knew Alex. I think there is a lack of understanding here. Yes maybe you can get some drugs cheaper at Walmart, but certainly not all “generic” drugs. Once a drug is outside patent protection, others can manufacture it but you have to show equivalence, which can require samples from the original or existing manufacturers, who can and have tightly controlled distribution to make it very challenging to get approval. Couple that with the risk of an existing manufacturer just dropping the price to eliminate any potential profit and you can see how some drugs can get into the place where there is only one source that can raise their prices as they see fit. I believe the idea here is they will eventually manufacture or source those drugs that are patent unencumbered but sole source.
Yes, the system is terribly imperfect (both a physician and a chemical engineer here). Yes, it doesn’t sound like this is a charity. But expecting that the walls of regulatory capture to just fall down because it would better for all of us is just wishful thinking. Let’s save our criticism for those raising the prices of epi-pens and what not year over year. I think the criticism here is misplaced - the company was incorporated with a public mission in mind, and they seem to be moving into manufacturing; it wouldn’t make much sense to make something that can already be sold at Walmart for $4. Let’s see how it goes and wish them the best.