It's an endless cycle of skyrocketing costs fueled by the immoral, for-profit nature of the U.S. healthcare system. We're always hearing about HMOs, hospitals, and insurance companies seeking ways to cut costs, and keeping down the cost of prescription medications is part of that process. Direct to consumer advertising is banned in most other nations, and the World Health Organization's Ethical Criteria for Medicinal Drug Promotion expressly forbids it. And in August 1997, the FDA finally gave in to drug company lobbyists and released new criteria for the advertising of drugs on TV, making it easier for drug companies to hock their wares directly to patients. In addition to marketing costs, pharmaceutical companies take huge markups in devious ways.
Most drug companies belong to a larger holding company that also owns a chemical company.
The Section 936 tax credit applies to any company that sets up a manufacturing plant in Puerto Rico. Other industries have benefited from this tax credit too, but more drug companies have relocated plants to Puerto Rico than all other industries combined. This little loophole saves the pharmaceutical industry over a billion dollars every year. And when your doctor writes you a prescription, ask him how much it's going to cost you. Ask him if there's a generic drug that will do the same thing, or an alternative treatment that will be effective without the need for you to take a pill and support a drug company.