@Jellis86:
I don't know but, I think that these drug prices jack ups don't happen just because ALS is a..."rare disease".
Just look around and see how Cancer patients, AIDS patients, Diabetes patients, and some other people affected by..."common diseases" have to struggle to purchase their medications.
Prices skyrocketed and, I know it's not that hard to manufacture drugs. I've been there.
I worked...for many, many years in Quality Control, Quality Assurance, Compliance, and R&D Departments of several drug companies and I know the raw materials they purchase and the active ingredients that go to the mixing room are not that expensive.
In fact, I know one of those drug companies (not named here to avoid legal issues), that spent about $47 in average to manufacture a drug that they sold for about $300(!)
That's greed.
About manufacturing drugs overseas, that could be a solution, but the overseas laboratories chosen to manufacture a given drug MUST meet the American G.M.P (Good Manufacturing Practices per C.F.R. 21 that stands for Code of Federal Regulations) as well as G.L.P. (Good Laboratory Practices) and they have to go through thorough inspections by the F.D.A. and, not every facility out there meet those high standards.
Even here, in the U.S.A., there have been some drug manufacturing facilities that have got "Warning Letters" from F.D.A. (also known as "483") because they were not in compliance.
In the past (1990's), drug companies were manufacturing more than 60% of drugs in Puerto Rico (a USA Territory, but not US State) and they were getting tax exemption because they were creating jobs there but....they NEVER passed these savings along to the American costumer here in the States form each drug bottle they sold. You see? That's greed.
So, we are stuck with drugs being manufactured here at higher costs because they paid their employees very well as well as grant them very good benefits.
Regards,
NH