[GeneralQuestions] How are Indian Pharm. companies able to sell r.c. and pills so cheap?

I recently stumbled upon a vendor selling Actavis Prometh/Codiene (where I'm from it goes for 500 a pint) for way cheaper than they should be. Venmax, the company, seems to be a legit one with stocks and investors. Not just this drug or specific company, most drugs from india seemed to be knocked down to a fifth of the price.


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[6 Points] None:

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[4 Points] blahblahblah54:

$500 a pint? I know people that will buy a sealed pint of Actavis for $2000 cash, no questions asked. If only I could find some, I'd be able to flip it for $2k all day long.

It's fucking moronic, $2,000 for a pint of cough syrup. Fuck it though, I just wish i could get my hands on some for $500.


[2 Points] morphinedreams:

Most drugs cost pennies to make. They are priced the way they are to recoup development costs/make a profit. You wouldnt spend 500 million on a drug to sell it at cost, which could be about 25 cents. Big pharmaceutical companies spend considerable amounts just on marketing (I believe somewhere in the range of 40% of total expenditure is on marketing). When you're just copying somebody elses work you can drive prices quite low and still break even/make a small profit.


[2 Points] couper_angus:

Most of the reasons for why generic drugs are less expensive than their brand name counterparts are as follows:- One of the main reasons is research and development costs. The pharmaceutical companies producing the generic drugs have much lower expenses than the companies that produce the branded drugs. This is because of the fact that drug research is costly and creation of a drug can consume many years- costs that generic manufacturers do not have. Once a company creates the drug, it must accomplish expensive clinical trials to ensure that the drug is safe and efficient. So, by the time a brand-name drug gets an approval from FDA, the drug company has already spent millions. Generic drug manufacturers don’t have to bear these costs encountered while developing a new drug. For generic drug manufacturers, the drug’s formula is known, the clinical trials are complete, and these are investing only on the production of the medication, so they can afford to sell the medicine at low prices. Another main reason is marketing. Brand-name manufacturers spend loads of amount in marketing new drugs to doctors and the public. They try different tactics for providing a place to their drug in the market. The brand name manufacturing firms send their representatives to visit the doctors in their clinics and various hospitals; these companies also invest on arranging the conferences to talk about their drugs with other doctors. Generic manufacturers rarely spend money on advertising and marketing. Generic drug companies also receive the benefit of the previous marketing efforts made by the brand-name drug company, including media advertising, presentations by drug representatives, and distribution of free samples. Most of the drugs introduced by generic manufacturers have already been on the market for a decade or more (the time period for which the patent was valid), and may already be well known to patients and providers. Competition among the generic drug producers also keep the costs down. Once generic drugs are approved, multiple companies begin producing and selling the drugs. Due to this, the competition grows, which keeps the price. Source welldrug.net