Poenget i artikkelen er nok hovedsaklig at dette vrir store samfunnsressurser vekk fra det store flertallet av syke pasienter for å behandle små pasientgrupper der konkurransesituasjonen gjør det svært profitabelt å satse.
Dette er jo en variant av det som skjer i Norge der vi ikke godtar alle medisiner rett og slett fordi de blir for dyre og samfunnsmessig er det ikke verdt prisen som kreves.
But orphan drugs as a class account for 10% of U.S. drug spending — even though they make up less than 0.5% of all prescriptions. By 2020, drugs with at least one orphan indication are expected to consume one-third of the U.S. drug budget, according to the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity.
Thanks to unconstrained pricing for orphan treatments, along with the raft of financial benefits embedded in the Orphan Drug Act, the best minds in drug development are being lured away from research on prevalent diseases. Consider that, in 2018, the FDA approved 34 drugs for orphan uses, but only one for chronic lung disease, and none for diabetes or coronary artery disease — all major killers.