LogFAQs > #979451928

Jen0125 posted...

Thanks Bernie

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/5/5ea2ef6d.jpg

I wonder what that's going to do globally. I've been on Symbicort since I was like 12 and that costs $120 (CAD) for a two-month supply. I fortunately have 80% of that paid by insurance, but many aren't so lucky. Either way, good for the US.

Fun fact: Because the "Turbuhaler" design A-Z uses for so many of their puffers is considered a piece of machinery, it's protected by a standard patent instead of a drug patent. Drug patents usually run out after 20 years, allowing generic alternatives to be produced and sold (this typically leaves 7-9 years of sale without competition, during which companies try to recover the money it cost to produce the drug), but the patent on the delivery mechanism for those puffers lasts for 75 years. This means they've got another 50-odd years of having no competition on any drugs they sell using that design, since producing a generic alternative doesn't amount to anything if they can't deliver it.