Our favorite socialist has issued a typically blistering call for lower HIV drug costs. On the official site of Sen. Bernie Sanders, he discusses his innovative HIV drug bill. (My bolding.)

By allowing patients to purchase generic versions of HIV/AIDS medicines, the bill would lower prices dramatically. In place of revenues from high prices for prescription medicine, the innovator of the product would be awarded substantial monetary reward from a special prize fund. The legislation would eliminate the monopoly barriers that keep drug prices sky-high and allow those living with HIV and those suffering from AIDS to access the most effective treatments right away. Patents would no longer be used to block generic competition. Instead, they would be used as a claim on significant prize funds for real innovation. The Prize Fund for HIV/AIDS would replace monopoly control of the HIV/AIDS treatment marketplace with a rationally administered prize fund of more than $3 billion that would be awarded based on the therapeutic advantages of new treatments. The cost of this fund would be easily offset by the savings to consumers, private insurers and government insurance programs, which now spend $9.1 billion on HIV/AIDS medicines every year.

Considering the power of the pharmaceutical lobby, Sanders' bill likely would not have a chance unless drug companies see a real way to make more money. It would be great, although surprising, to see our major LGBT rights groups get behind Sanders bill. But many of those outfits also benefit from pharma donations, so don't hold your breath.

Pfizer's patent on their "blockbuster" heart drug Lipitor, which has raked in billions, ended yesterday. And already a cheaper generic has been cleared for sale. That news may be a literal lifesaver for people whose insurance did not cover Lipitor.

Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. has won approval to sell generic copies of the $10.7 billion cholesterol pill Lipitor in the U.S., threatening Pfizer Inc.’s sales. U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance for Ranbaxy, India’s biggest drugmaker, followed a dispute over whether the company could produce the copies given questions about its manufacturing plants. A deal to share profits with Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., a generic-drug maker based in Israel, helped overcome that hurdle.

By federal law a drug patent can last 20 years, but that time is usually shortened by the time between when a patent is granted and when the medication actually hits the market. Many drugs end up having patent protection for about twelve years, although drug makers will sometime make an end-run around that limit by "reformulating" the drug and applying for a new patent.

In nations with shorter or unenforced patent protections, generic or counterfeited copies of many major U.S.-invented drugs are sold at prices far, far below what is seen domestically. Many argue that American drug companies wouldn't bother to pursue innovating treatments were they not guaranteed a long period of exclusive sales.

RELATED: A handful of early HIV drug patents have expired or will shortly. A generic version of Crixivan, which despite its often brutal side-effects surely saved countless lives, is set to debut in May 2012. GSK's controversial AZT fell out of patent in 2005. In July of this year Gilead announced that it would permit overseas production of generic versions of their HIV drugs Viread and Emtriva.