AIDS Watch petitions against drug price hikes

Abbott, the maker of a unique AIDS drug called Norvir, recently raised the price of the drug by about 400 percent.Students from Yale AIDS Watch who oppose Abbott's altering the prices of certain medications are pressuring the company and mobilizing support for the cause with a campus-wide petition.

The drug market is not a perfect competitive market. Unlike other consumer goods, drug price is pretty inelastic. Consumers do not shop for best deals. They just take what the doctors order. And doctors have little incentive to be price concsious. Morover, because of patents, few competing brands existing to force lower prices. It is the govonment that should alter the patent laws to prevent this monoply pricing practice.