Many bloggers, including fellow medicinal chemist Derek Lowe, have frequently covered the debate regarding the high cost of prescription drugs in the United States. While not new, this issue has only recently captured the attention of main stream media - in part because it has been made into a convenient election year topic by the democratic presidential contenders. And the average consumer, looking at their own wallet, simply rally behind the politicians who charge that big pharma is inherently bad and only exists because they want to squeeze every little penny out of the consumer.

Without getting into a passionate declaration here, I would at least like to point out a few facts - or in this case point you to a good article by Lawrence Lessig, published in the latest issue of Wired Magazine.

Lessig discusses the question why “millions of people in developing nations around the world - who need lifesaving drugs - don’t get them.” But rather than blame the US pharmaceutical industry, he points the finger to the grandstanding politician.

If Congress is going to give away the monopolies we call patents, it should know something about how patents work - in particular, that if these companies can’t charge more in developed nations, they won’t charge less in developing nations. And if they won’t charge less in developing nations, then, as UC Berkeley economist Brian Wright succinctly puts it, “millions will die.”

Lessing goes on: What’s needed here is shame. Politicians know that most voters understand squat about how monopolies work best. They also know that there won’t be a rally on Capitol Hill in favor of price discrimination. It is therefore cheap to scold big pharma for the “windfall profits” made by charging so much more for drugs in the US than in other countries. Cheap, and criminal. This behavior by politicians simply denies medicine to those who need it most.

Well said, and there’s more. Read Lawrence Lessig’s entire Wired article…