From libertarian Michael A. LaFerrara at Principled Perspectives:
Drugmaker Mylan is the latest pharmaceutical company to come under fire for it pricing policies. Mylan bought rights to the EpiPen in 2007. EpiPen is an epinephrine-filled auto injector that stops allergic reactions before the reaction can turn deadly. Since then, Mylan raised the price of EpiPen by some 400-500%.
While not mentioning Mylan by name, Rutgers University “senior policy fellow” Richard F. Keevey accused Mylan of “profiteering.” In a New Jersey Star-Ledger September 2016 guest column, A prescription to help reduce drug prices, Keevey noted “Recent actions by certain drug companies” which includes “significantly increas[ing] prices before [patent] expiration.” He then proposed a series of steps to restrict prices, including price controls and bans on direct-to-consumer advertising.
As I read this, I think “No good deed goes unpunished.” Note the focus only on price, with no credit for the life-saving benefits Mylan provides.
Perhaps food should also be priced “to a level that more accurately reflects its lifesaving value.” It’s the moral thing to do.
Kind of a twisted take on the old principle of Supply and Demand, huh? I must have missed that caveat or footnote when studying Locke.
“The price of any commodity rises or falls by the proportion of the number of buyers and sellers and the price is regulated by nothing but their quantity in proportion to their demand. And we must never forget the multiplier affect that pricing models must adhere to when considering the value of a human life.”
Yeah… must be nice living in Mr. LaFerrara’s privileged world.