If you assume Americans pay tremendously more for all drugs, including Hep-C drugs like Daclatasvir, you're absolutely correct.
Congress and George W. Bush cleverly prohibited Medicare from using competitive bidding when purchasing pharmaceuticals - under the delusional doctrine that competition is socialist.
When I worked for Chevron, like all Fortune 500 companies, we used competitive bidding when purchasing all patented products - so I guess American business is "socialist".
A twelve-week course of Daclatasvir costs Medicare $63,000 in the US.
A twelve-week course of Daclatasvir costs only $39,000 in the UK and $37,000 in France.
The price is similar in Australia and other parts of Europe and Asia, but the negotiated prices are not public in those countries.
Now that Bristol-Myers-Squibb has joined the Medicines Patent Pool, a 12 week course of Daclatasvir will cost $525 in Egypt.
Daclatasvir is a cure for Hep-C and the least costly way to deal with a disease like Hep-C is to eradicate it globally.
Why did Bristol-Myers-Squibb place this drug into the patent pool for the Third World?
This was one of the contract requirements imposed by a number of countries like England and France when they negotiated for the price of this drug - because they actually want to reduce their health care costs and that can only be done with eradication.
Bill Gates' foundation will be paying the $525 cost of the cure in many poor nations. Generic companies Cipla, Emcure, Hetero and Natco have signed non-exclusive, royalty free agreements with Bristol-Myers Squibb and the MPP to produce and sell daclatasvir in 112 low- and middle-income countries.
We've run out of other people's Social Security taxes needed to subsidize our low income tax rates.
