drug companies

Kansas City plasma donors help the United States fuel a pharmaceutical industry worth $35 billion. Many donors have lower incomes and rely on on selling their plasma to make ends meet.

Pharmacy manufacturers, who are playing defense on similar bills across the country, want Missouri Gov. Mike Parson to veto the legislation because the discounted prescriptions are often sold to patients at full retail price.

Opioid settlement payouts will be made to thousands of communities across the country over 18 years. Payouts in the Kansas City metropolitan area so far have ranged from $2.4 million to Kansas City, Missouri, to Kansas City to $4,500 to Westwood, Kansas.

Being a middleman in the $1 trillion pharmaceutical industry is big business. The middlemen can even earn more than the drugmakers on prescription drugs.

Dr. Steven M. Simon admitted that he told a drug representative he would stop selling one of their drugs unless the company hired him for paid speaking engagements.