I agree, Deri!  I think the drug companies charge way too much for the meds
they send to market. It's an uneven burden, especially for those without
insurance and on fixed incomes.  Here in the US, if you're covered under
Medicare, your prescriptions are not covered, and you pay the full cost,
which can run into hundreds of dollars.  Insurance companies do offer
'Medigap' coverage but they still do not offer as much coverage as a lot of
employers' group plans.

Kat


----- Original Message -----
From: "Deri James" <[log in to unmask]>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.c-palsy
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, May 04, 2003 8:56 AM
Subject: Re: civil war, was re. earthquake


> On Saturday 03 May 2003 7:52 pm, you wrote:
> > Beth and Kyle,
> >
> >        If you are in national politics, you are bought and paid for by
some
> > interest(s) group(s). Speaking of Pfizer, Beth, Bush's AIDS initiative
in
> > Africa is a boon to Pfizer whom manufactures one of the AIDS cocktails.
> >
> > Bobby
>
> Yeah, but the US was the only country to stop the deal which would have
> allowed the poorest African countries to buy the Aids drugs at substantial
> discounts.
>
> Any attempts by poor countries to manudacture "generic" drugs (for use by
its
> own residents) results in the threat of trade sanctions from the US
> government. The huge profits being made by drug companies is obscene, and
the
> argument that charging more reasonable prices would jeopardise future
> research is rather spurious. At the moment 8 drugs for "sexual
dysfunction"
> are currently being developed (thanks to the huge commercial success of
> Viagra), I fail to see why a poor person with AIDS should be expected to
fund
> such research!!
>
> Cheers
>
> Deri