BIg Pharma

In Blade Runner (Scott 1982), the Tyrell Corporation slogan is "More Human Than HUmans". What this quote means to me is that the Tyrell Corporation manufactures "life" , can control how long a person lives, and charges whatever it wants because there is no alternative. The corporations power is not dictatorship, it is biological. You want to live longer, they make you pay. The NUmbers are Hard to Sit With U.S drug prices are not high, they are extremely inaccessible for most people, especially compared to other countries. Brand-name drugs in the U.S cost 3x (Mulcahy et al., 2024) more than any where else, ever after adjusting for rebates. Some asthma medications are 1,300% higher than the average price across even neighboring countries ( Office of Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, 2024). Insulin cost nearly t10 times more in the U.S than other OCED countries ( Mulcahy et al., 2024) When Insulin was discovered the scientist sold the patent for one dollar because they thought it should be accessible for the public. One vial the cost $21 in 1999 is now over $300 (Hales et al., 2020) Why is this Allowed to Happen? In Blade Runner, the Tyrell company can charge any price because they do not see it as corruption in a dramatic sense, they see it as "just how they system was built". An example is cancer treatment, when someone is diagnosed with cancer, they are forced to have to pay whatever they are charged because they need the drug regardless of the cost so there is no real competition ( Office of Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, 2024). In most countries the government negotiates prices based pn what drug is actually worth therapeutically. The result is that Americans pay more for the same medication with no additional health benefit. We are not getting better drugs, we are just consumers that let companies charge sick people whatever they feel like. Is there any Hope?
There might be hope because Pfizer became the first pharmaceutical company to lower they're prices for Medicaid recipients to align with international rates ( Euronews, 2025), which usually only happens because of political pressure and tariffs. But it is definitely not a solution, because many peopole who cannot acces medicaid are still paying high prices. Plus this does not prove that these corporations are not completely immovable. They only respond when they feel threatened. We Are Already Here Being in this class has showed me that cyberpunk is not a warning, but when people are importing drugs from other countries or traveling just be able to afford adequate healthcare at an affordable price ( Pew Research center, 2017), rationing Insuin, and life saving treatments are treated as luxury rather than a right- that is a regular Friday in America. Tyrell Corporation monetized the dependency between humans and the thing keeping them alive. Pfizer is not exactly the same but the same premise still stand, biological necessity as a leverage as a revenue stream. Cyberpunk is already here.

Euronews. (2025, October 1). Pfizer agrees to lower prescription drug costs for Medicaid. https://www.euronews.com/business/2025/10/01/pfizer-agrees-to-lower-prescription-drug-costs-for-medicaid Fortune. (2025, January 6). Pfizer has increased prices on over 60 drugs in the U.S. as of Jan. 1. https://fortune.com/well/2025/01/03/pfizer-drug-price-increase-2025/ Hales, C. M., Carroll, M. D., Fryar, C. D., & Ogden, C. L. (2020). The high cost of insulin in the United States: An urgent call to action. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 95(1), 22–28. https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(19)31008-0/fulltext Mulcahy, A. W., Schwam, D., & Lovejoy, S. L. (2024). International prescription drug price comparisons: Estimates using 2022 data. RAND Corporation. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA788-3.html Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. (2024, January 31). Comparing prescription drugs in the U.S. and other countries: Prices and availability. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://aspe.hhs.gov/reports/comparing-prescription-drugs Pew Research Center / PMC. (2017). Importation of drugs into the United States from Canada. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5478407/ Scott, R. (Director). (1982). Blade Runner [Film]. Warner Bros.