The price is....
I'm not sure how pricing of medical items works.
But I'm assuming that part of the point of being able to patent something is to be able to recoup some of the costs involved in research and development.
Though admittedly I have no idea if the item I'm thinking of is still under patent.
But I'm having trouble trying to find another reason that 1 unit of anti clotting agent is worth $2,000. If the measurement is similar to a unit of blood, that's apparently about 450mls.
That's...a lot of money. And I am not sure what raw ingredients would drive the cost up so high. Short of I dunno, liquefying diamonds and shooting them up. Which wouldn't exactly help blood clot better.
(This is why they normally wait until drugs are out of someone's system before surgery, because anyone with a heart problem is likely on blood thinners, which you really don't want when operating on said heart)
The thing I find more interesting is that generally they don't use this particular product BECAUSE it's so expensive. So wouldn't they make more money by lowering the price to something less outrageous seeming so that it was used by more doctors more of the time?
Maybe it is the best of the best, but if the next best thing will work as well on the majority of cases, and not be priced so exorbitantly, people aren't going to reach for your product, surely.
And you'll make more money if 50 units are used at $1,000 apiece, than 5 at $2,000.
This entry was originally posted at http://lirion.dreamwidth.org/286380.html
But I'm assuming that part of the point of being able to patent something is to be able to recoup some of the costs involved in research and development.
Though admittedly I have no idea if the item I'm thinking of is still under patent.
But I'm having trouble trying to find another reason that 1 unit of anti clotting agent is worth $2,000. If the measurement is similar to a unit of blood, that's apparently about 450mls.
That's...a lot of money. And I am not sure what raw ingredients would drive the cost up so high. Short of I dunno, liquefying diamonds and shooting them up. Which wouldn't exactly help blood clot better.
(This is why they normally wait until drugs are out of someone's system before surgery, because anyone with a heart problem is likely on blood thinners, which you really don't want when operating on said heart)
The thing I find more interesting is that generally they don't use this particular product BECAUSE it's so expensive. So wouldn't they make more money by lowering the price to something less outrageous seeming so that it was used by more doctors more of the time?
Maybe it is the best of the best, but if the next best thing will work as well on the majority of cases, and not be priced so exorbitantly, people aren't going to reach for your product, surely.
And you'll make more money if 50 units are used at $1,000 apiece, than 5 at $2,000.
This entry was originally posted at http://lirion.dreamwidth.org/286380.html