re: Serious business: The opioid epidemic - it's on the rise in the United States

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I don't know if it's a conspiracy, but I think it just gradually became more and more acceptable for primary care doctors to prescribe them, and it spun out of control. I'm not sure what role big pharma plays either, as most of the prescribed painkillers have generics available.

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This is the part I'm more interested in actually seeing some hard numbers on. What doctors prescribe can be influenced by the OT 10 sales reps that market drugs to them. That's another topic but I think it contributes. Also I'm curious to see what financial effect generics have had on opiates vs other drugs. The typical business model for a drug is to spend massive amounts on R&D and trials getting it to market, charge a premium for 7 years to make a profit on all that sunk cost before the patent expires. Generics hit as soon as it does, demand for the name brand drug plummets, on to the next drug.

Opiates seem different. Cheap to produce, and almost no R&D since they've been around so long. Even with the ultimate generic on the street, heroin, prices for painkillers remain high. Demand is almost limitless, it increases the more it's sold. I've seen oxy go for more than a $1/mg, that can be $80 for a single pill. Addictive drugs break the rules from an economic standpoint, flood the market and demand can actually grow.

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I was only paying like $5 for the 120 pill prescription through my insurance, though I don't know what the pharmacy billed the insurance company.

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The recent pain cream scandal showed that doctors aren't immune to the things I'm describing above. Sales rep greases the doc's palm in some way, doc prescribes more of the drug, drug company charges anything they want to the insurance company. Again, I'm not a conspiracy nut, but I would not be shocked at all to learn this was happening in some capacity. Maybe not even enough for those involved to realize it, but still happening nonetheless.