Esri = 3.75% growth every year Esri = bearded overpaid Moore Mc dowell school of economics lackeys

In fairness to some chemists, some do ask if u want the cheaper alternative. I was in a chemist yest looking for a particular thing & straight away your one offered me a cheaper alternative. She said it has the same ingredients as the established version. Save me E2. It is a good idea for a price list to be displayed so you can make “an informed choice”.

Rubbish … Doctors don’t get paid more for prescribing more expense medications… If they prescribe one drug over another it’s typically because it has better efficacy or tolerability

To be sure drug companies want doctors and nurses to sell their products but to suggest that doctors are benefitting from prescribing more expense drugs is misjudged

Michael, that’s a retarded suggestion. We already got laws coming out of our ears and they aren’t making things cheaper. Doctors are simply lazy. Very often they know only 1 or 2 of the brand names of a specific drug and once they are use to writing those brand names on the script then they simply keep doing it even when a generic comes out.

The docters do benifit. I worked for years in Medical Materiel and Resource Managment. It is not always in a monitary value but they benifit through marketing gifts. Look at all the name brand products you see on the Doctors desk, ie a GSK mug and note pads Phzr embossed stethiscopes. Bayer desk calenders. We would get massive tins of cakes and popcorn, wine baskets, tickets to shows and sports events, you name it. If you can’t see it your eyes are closed.

@cavanbythesea no Doctors don’t get paid more to prescribe certain medicines but they are courted by sales reps.

Doctors tend to prescribe a drug because they don’t know about generic alternatives. Doctors don’t really know about drugs & the interactions. Pharmacists do…

bang on charlie … and I do believe that in times gone past they they were brought away to ‘conferences’ – a glorified sales pitch with games of golf / night in a hotel / spa & dinner…

I’m a drugs manufacturer X. I approach the Irish state and tell them that I will build a factory here that will create xxxxx # of jobs. But I will only do this under certain conditions i.e. only I shall receive a licence to distribute drugs X, Y and Z. Simples!

Greed is the problem. Too much money being made by greedy people. Many businesses here still think that damn Celtic Tiger is still about. Their answer when challenged is similar to that by publicans – “costs”.

Declan, It’s not the greed of the small business. It’s greedy politicians protecting greedy monster companies. But at the end of the day, the big, greedy pharma would not be able to do any of this if the politicians didn’t have to power to “protect” them. The final parasite who is ultimately responsible for this is the state. With all the uber regulation it is nearly impossible for anyone to compete with the big dogs, because only they can afford the lobbying and compliance costs. Want more government and more regulation? The result will be even higher prices.

Gotcha, Dave McC.

Neil – look at Dave MCarthy’s posts – he is correct. Perhaps if pharmacies displayed a break down of:
- cost
- dispensing fee
- vat
on the receipt then people may understand. Its very easy to point and blame and say that the point of sale is far to expensive without looking at the suppliers / manufactures.

Come on, that can’t be done. The additional costs on the drugs are hidden and the sheep don’t know the details, however, the jobs that the corrupt pharmaceutical industry creates are out in the open. So, if you were a politician, say, the minister for jobs, what do you think is easier to sell to the sheep, increased drug costs that they can’t pinpoint or the “new jobs” that are out in the open? Politics is always about the cheapest, fastest, easiest way to get the sheep to vote for you. The sheep don’t like things like economics, they like simple, easy to see, easy to digest banners.