Life-saving drugs priced at $1,000.00 per day

   The manufacturers of Cerezyme, a drug essential to the treatment of Gaucher disease, a rare, sometimes fatal disorder, charge more than $300,000.00 per year for the drug, according to the New York Times.  By charging such high prices for a few patients (1,500 in the U.S., 5,000 total) the company generated revenues of 1.1 billion dollars in sales.  This price is driven by market forces-not the cost of development.  The company is exploiting a monopoly on the drug, despite the fact that most of the scientific research and development work on the drug was paid for by the federal government--which now pays again to purchase its own work product.