Trouble in pharma-land

Today, our major national newspaper headlettered that Social Security has paid 120 million for medicines which should only cost 10 million...

They have done an investigation into the pharmaceutical sector. Some of the big companies sell medicine that are in fact old ones, but have ingredients which could be used for other purposes, such as the battle against cancer. AND they sell them of course for a much higher price... Some companies even have a monopoly on a certain substance - which they can then sell against absurd high prices. For instance, a substance that would cost like 100 dollar to produce would go up to a selling price of 12,000 $!

This causes of lot of anger. Here in Belgium we have a good system, which pays back most of the costs of illness. I don't even have to pay anything for my cancer medication, because it's a recognized severe illness. The big companies take advantage of this system, by making social security pay way more than is due.

Some people want to take action against this but minister Maggie De Block is not quite convinced. She fears that, if action is undertaken, the pharmaceutical industry will stop doing research - research that is needed to produce new medicine and new cures against severe illnesses.

We'll see how it goes...