The current price of insulin is still directly affected by patents. Yes, they are still getting patents 100 years later with analogs and biosimilars.
We certainly could manufacture the original formula for cheap, but no one wants to do that. Capitalism and intellectual property combined are the culprits.
The government could fix this a number of ways, but it hasn’t.
They could have run a non-profit organization that leases out access to the patent, with conditions on pricing and availability. IMO, the pair thought that a for-profit health industry would do the right thing, and were betrayed by the rich bastards of society.
wasn’t the original inventor of insulin insistent that it remain cheap and readily available?
Banting and Best sold the patent for $1. But they were Canadian.
The cost of insulin has nothing to do with intellectual property.
The current price of insulin is still directly affected by patents. Yes, they are still getting patents 100 years later with analogs and biosimilars.
We certainly could manufacture the original formula for cheap, but no one wants to do that. Capitalism and intellectual property combined are the culprits.
The government could fix this a number of ways, but it hasn’t.
They could have run a non-profit organization that leases out access to the patent, with conditions on pricing and availability. IMO, the pair thought that a for-profit health industry would do the right thing, and were betrayed by the rich bastards of society.
As mentioned in the post, yes.