How Gout Pill Went from Pennies to $5 by the Greed of Big Pharm and the Generosity of the FDA

Colchicine is one of those ancient drugs that doctors have been using forever. Like aspirin and morphine, no one has a patent on it, because it is so old that its use predates patents---

That was until 2009 when a wily pharmaceutical company conducted clinical trials to see if colchicine was effective in treating gout. No surprise about the outcome. Doctors had been using the medication for decades to successfully treat gout. The surprise came when URL Pharma---which was later purchased by Takeda---applied for an exclusive patent on colchicine based upon their low cost no risk trial---they knew that it was going to work. The FDA gave URL Pharma--and later Takeda--the sole right to sell the gout medication in this country.

Prior to the FDAs decision, colchicine was available as a low cost generic made by over 20 companies. Once URL Pharma/Takeda got the patent, they were able to raise the price so high that average Americans could no longer afford it. The ugly truth is spelled out in the amicus brief filed by the American College of Rheumatology

http://www.rheumatology.org/Advocacy/Hotissues/ACR_Advocacy_Update/

What's next? Will Pfizer do a trial, discover that aspirin prevents strokes and heart attacks and apply for a patent so that they can get the exclusive right to sell it at $5 a pill? Maybe Sandoz can do studies of marijuana's affect on nausea and get a patent to control all weed that is sold in the US. Marijuana would get a lot more expensive, but we could be assured that it would be available. The government would never ban a drug that could make Big Pharm a ton of money. Maybe someone should patent water--you know, H20. Has anyone done an official trial to see what effect oral rehydration with H20 does for heat exhaustion? Maybe Smith-Kline could become the sole licensed water dealer in the US---and we could pay $5 for a glass of water.