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And we continue with our American stories and with our American Dreamers series, which is sponsored by the great folks at the Job Creators Network. And today, Alex Cortez brings us a story that gives us a fascinating look inside the pharmaceutical industry, one we generally don't get. Here's Alex. At 29 years old, Bruce Paddock bought a bankrupt pharmaceutical company for $20,000, and everyone thought he was crazy. I had a lab technician, an office manager, and me, so were three of us.
And now I continued to work as a pharmacist nights and weekends. I work part-time for Target, Walgreens. I work for every pharmacy along Lake Street, which is in the South Minneapolis area.
So I would work the 5 to 11 shift, or I'd work weekends because I had to put food on the table because the first two to three years of Paddock Laboratories, I wasn't taking a salary. I mean there was a period of time I remember I was working 80 hours a week. I was known throughout the city is have spatula will travel. I would work for anybody. Anybody would.
Call me up. Bruce, I've got 11 to 7 shift. I take it. You know, a lot of times a lot of these independent pharmacies They only got a day off a week, and so they would pay cash, and they pay a lot of cash just to get a break, to get a Saturday night or a Sunday morning break.
So I would work uh I think at one time I counted, over a two-year period of time, I had worked in over 50. community pharmacies in the Minneapolis St. Paul area. But it was challenging. I enjoyed the challenge.
I was young. I was ambitious. I was, as they say, pretty cock sure of myself. Our first year in sales were, in fact, they still have the very first financial statement, the PL. in the balance sheet from 1978.
We had gross sales of $183,000. But by 1980, We had grown the sales up to about 400,000. And there was enough revenue and enough cash flow, I could actually start taking a salary.
So I retired from my. my part-time pharmacy roles. slowly built a business in the end. What I think we had grown to about 300 million in sales, and I had 540 employees.
Now, it took me 35 years to do it. But in a lot of uh ups and downs but generally up. I was always proud of the fact that Each year, we never had a year of down sales. Each year, we posted bigger sales than the previous year.
So it was a upward scale starting at $183,000 to $300 million. Strangely enough, a federal law really helped drive their growth. The Hatch-Waxman Act of 1984 made it much easier to make generics, drugs that have the same chemical characteristics as the well-known branded drugs that pharmaceutical companies first pioneer and are created and sold at a fraction of the price. Yeah. Yeah.
You know, when I was a young pharmacist, there actually were generics. But they were very rarely used because they were considered Low quality, not equivalent to the branded product. And of course, big pharma, you know, the Mercks, the Lilies, the Park Davises, all the. Major drug firms spent a lot of money in sales and marketing of their products.
So, generics were kind of a bad name back in the 70s when I first got involved in pharmacy. In fact, even in my community and hospital pharmacy days, I don't think I ever remember ever dispensing a generic. But it really was because of the standards the FDA set down in the Hatch-Waxman Drug Act that really gave generic pharmaceuticals. credibility because up until this period of time we had approved that a product was both safe and effective. Which required very extensive clinical studies was really out of the reach of a little company like Paddock Laboratories.
We did not have the millions of dollars to do the research. in the safety studies. And so now They created a pathway by which generic pharmaceuticals Could be developed.
So now we didn't have to spend money proving a product was safe and effective. the branded product had already paid that money. and got FDA approval and usually came with it a certain patent life.
Well, in anticipation of a patent expiring, We were able to look at these products, deformulate the products. Manufacture them.
Now, all we had to do, we didn't have to prove safety efficacy. All we had to do was prove bioequivalency. Both What's called in vitro and in vivo. In vitro means that your product has to be physically identical, the same excipients, the same binders. the same chemical makeup.
In vivo meaning inside the body. or delivering the same concentration of drug and getting the same concentration of blood levels to elicit a therapeutic response.
So you're literally duplicating the branded product. But still proving bioequivalence is still an expensive endeavor because you have to do clinical studies where you do a clinical studies with a branded product, you do your clinical studies with your generic product, and you have to be within not less than 90% and not greater than 110% of the therapeutic blood levels of the branded product. And again, because of the standards at the FDA, generic pharmaceuticals became. more acceptable. And as they became more acceptable, the percentage of prescriptions throughout the decades has grown.
In fact, I don't even, I think it's somewhere up in the 80% of all prescriptions dispensed today are generic pharmaceuticals. Where when I first entered pharmacy in the early 70s, going back 45 years ago, It was zero. It might have been maybe one or two percent generic. And I think generic pharmaceuticals have really brought the cost of drug coverage down dramatically. They can tell you that.
If a branded product is selling for $100, Per dose. or per bottle or per unit or per anything. That if you're the first bioequivalent generic on the marketplace, you're going to sell your product. for about 70 cents or about 70% of the branded cost. Once The second generic comes out.
Now you have a competitor. And again, it's business one-on-one, the more competitors you have. The more competitive or the lower the price gets.
So now the Price of that generic product is now down to about 50% or about 50 cents on the dollar. As the third and fourth generic come out, the price continues to drop. and you have six or more generics in a marketplace. the product can be down as low as a nickel. or five cents.
Uh My initial reason for getting into the business was challenging, it was fun, it was profitable. and I could make make money. But I think once you've been in it, for a period of time You start to realize that you are really bringing affordable health care in a lot of Products to the marketplace that increases the quality of life for a lot of Americans. And it's it's especially humbling. When you get letters, you know, from the public.
explaining how taking your product saves somebody's life. or recovered from some serious illness, And there's countless numbers of lives that you've influence and you don't realize it because you're you're in your little world of my 540 employees and we're trying to Get a business logistically to function and deliver a quality product. But there's 330 million people out there in America, and that you've influenced. millions of lives that you don't even know. but you quickly realize that you do have an effect upon a lot of people's lives and it does give you a certain degree of satisfaction, a certain degree of pleasure that you're contributing.
You're contributing to society, you're helping people, many people you don't even know. And I think that gives you a certain sense of, well, you know, we're doing our part. What I was able to do is that I was able to do that. in our great country. I don't think I could have done it in any other environment.
I couldn't do it in Europe. I don't think I could do it in. Any other continent, I think the opportunity here in the United States for anybody in any vocation. is limitless. If you have boundless energy, you have goals, you have objectives.
I think there's more opportunity in America today, even today, I still believe America is the land of opportunity for those who are willing to work for it. I think there's more opportunity in America than there is in any other country. And I think there's a reason why a lot of people want into the United States. I know of very few people who want to leave the United States. We have freedoms.
we can worship. You know, the laws protect us. We have Boundeless limits of what we can do in this country, and we should be thankful for that. I still think it's the greatest. greatest country in the world.
Uh And great job as always by Alex, and great work getting the interview, and a special thanks. to Bruce Paddock. And what a life story. struggling and working hard to make his small business grow, The story of the generic drug business, in a sense. All of it here.
on our American story. Yeah. People don't listen to radio ads. While you're driving or making a sandwich, your subconscious pays full attention.
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I've had the privilege of working closely with Robert Kraft for a long time. And one thing I've always respected is how seriously he takes up standing up to hate. As a Jewish athlete my identity is something I am proud of. But I also know what it feels like to be singled out for it. That's why this new commercial for the Blue Square Alliance Against Hate that aired during the big game really hit home.
It's about showing up for someone when they're targeted, even if you don't have the perfect words. And sometimes standing next to someone is enough. And you can show support by sharing the blue square. No one knows what the future holds, but you deserve a weather app that can help. Weatherbug is easy to use and provides forecasts for your every need, from storm warnings to pollen levels, right at your fingertips.
Get the fastest local alerts and comprehensive 10-day forecasts wherever you are. It's hyper-local, real-time, customizable alerts. Make sure the weather never takes you by surprise so you can plan every day with confidence. Download the free weather bug app from the App Store today and start getting accurate weather forecasts 24-7. Big adventures, family chaos, untethered exploration.
The Nissan Pathfinder is built for it. Powered by a lauded V6 engine and smooth nine-speed automatic transmission, the new Nissan Pathfinder is Adventure on Wheels. With seating for up to eight, a premium interior, and available second-row captain's chairs, it's adventure in comfort. And with 284 horsepower and 6,000 pounds of towing capacity, Pathfinder is adventure unlimited. The new Nissan Pathfinder, power your adventure.
Towing capacity varies by configuration. See Nissan Towing Guide and Owner's Manual for additional information. Always secure cargo. We all take good care of the things that matter. Our homes, our pets, our cars.
Are you doing the same for your brain? Acting early to protect brain health may help reduce the risk of dementia from conditions like Alzheimer's disease. Studies have found that up to 45% of dementia cases may be prevented or delayed by managing risk factors you can change. Make brain health a priority. Ask your doctor about your risk factors and for a cognitive assessment.
Learn more at brainhealthmatters.com.
