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theobon | 8 years ago

There are multiple cases where someone can be obligated to sell for a particular price. Eminent domain is the most obvious example but Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory Licensing [1] is more applicable. Patent laws creates a temporary monopoly. This monopoly needs to be regulated to prevent abuse. Avoiding extortionist pricing of patented medications seems like a reasonable area for regulation.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reasonable_and_non-discriminat...

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rayiner|8 years ago

But the patent on daraprim expired decades ago. It was a single source drug because there wasn’t enough money in the market for another manufacturer to make a competing alternative. There are something like 8,000 prescriptions a year.

wpietri|8 years ago

In which case that sounds like market failure to me, which is another excellent time for regulation. We do this all the time with other "natural monopolies".