I'm inclined to trust Wikipedia more than Cuban. They had a wikiwar sometime back about the inclusion of drug prices (the anti-price faction won), but older article versions still list the sticker price in the developing world at USD 0.01 to 0.06. That's credible, considering what a simple molecule the active principle is.
Just guessing, I suspect that the regulatory environment in the US adds cost. It costs more to buy or lease the space here, and it costs more here to hire people. It all adds up.
Albendazole is a large-volume generic, the manufacturer will sit somewhere in India or China. The stuff already has FDA registration since you can buy it in the US (although at wildly inflated prices).
Not really defending anything here. Just saying that producing drugs in the US costs more than other places. Unless they are buying tablets from a manufacturer that are already FDA approved, they still have to prove the similarity of their generic product to the FDA - the product has to provably be what it is labeled to be.
"We will let everyone know what it costs to manufacture, distribute, and market our drugs to pharmacies. We add a flat 15% margin to get our wholesale prices. This makes sure we remain viable and profitable. There are no hidden costs, no middlemen, no rebates only available to insurance companies. Everybody gets the same low price for every drug we make."
I guess we'll get to see where the price comes from.
