Drug Pricing
Commentary
The New Medicine Tariffs Are a Prescription for Disaster
President Trump has recently struck trade agreements with the European Union and Japan. Both deals will impose a 15 percent tariff on imported prescription drugs and active pharmaceutical ingredients. White House officials believe these tariffs will benefit Americans by nudging pharmaceutical companies to relocate their manufacturing operations stateside in order ...
Sally C. Pipes
August 28, 2025
Commentary
How innovation saves lives: What America’s pharmaceutical ecosystem gets right
When a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States today, her chances of surviving are much greater than in decades past — thanks to U.S. innovation. The incidence of breast cancer has increased by more than 200% globally in the past 40 years. But the U.S. mortality ...
Sally C. Pipes
August 25, 2025
Commentary
What’s The GLP-1 Black Market, How Big a Threat Is It?
A black market in weight-loss drugs is flourishing in plain sight. Rogue pharmacies and telehealth firms are flooding the United States with unauthorized knock-offs of semaglutide, tirzepatide, and other glucagon-like peptide-1 drugs. Better known by brand names like Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, and Zepbound, the knock-off versions of these drugs are ...
Sally C. Pipes
August 22, 2025
Commentary
Generics Must Compete On Price, Not Safety
America’s generic drug market is one of our greatest health policy successes. Today, 91% of all prescriptions in the U.S. are filled with generics. That dominance saves patients and taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars every year—and it also drives innovation. Drugmakers know their monopoly on a new treatment will ...
Sally C. Pipes
August 21, 2025
Commentary
The Inflationary Effect of Drug Price Controls
In a bill chock full of bad policies, the drug pricing provision of the Inflation Reduction Act stands out as particularly troubling. This provision establishes a negotiation process to set a Maximum Fair Price (MFP) on selected drugs for Medicare patients. Because the legislation calls the MFP a negotiation doesn’t ...
Wayne H Winegarden
August 21, 2025
Commentary
The Trump Administration Is Reviving Its Worst Drug Pricing Policies
It’s been a big year for revivals. There’s a new Jurassic Park movie, a reunion tour featuring 1990s rock band Oasis, and a Harry Potter television series in the works. President Trump is also looking to revive some of the policies he tried to enact during his first term. He ...
Sally C. Pipes
August 18, 2025
Commentary
Drugmakers Are Embracing Direct-To-Consumer Sales. That’s Fantastic News For Patients.
Several Big Pharma companies have started selling their drugs directly to consumers (DTC). This shift — driven in part by President Trump’s push for lower drug prices and fewer middlemen — has garnered relatively little media coverage. But the implications for American patients, employers, and the healthcare system as a ...
Sally C. Pipes
August 8, 2025
Commentary
Drug Tariffs Cure Nothing and Are a Tax Increase
President Donald Trump has made no secret of his desire for sweeping tariffs on pharmaceuticals. Last month, the president threatened tariffs as high as 200% on imported drugs. The trade deal with the European Union (EU) finalized July 27 includes a 15% levy on medicines imported from the continent. Drug ...
Sally C. Pipes
August 6, 2025
Commentary
We don’t need socialism to cut drug prices. Americans get a good deal
Nearly nine in every 10 Americans say that prescription drug prices are too high. Yet the average prescription costs less in the U.S. than in other developed countries, according to a new study from professor Tomas Phillipson, the former chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. That finding ...
Sally C. Pipes
August 6, 2025
Blog
Read part 3 of a series on drug pricing
Regulations, Not Anticompetitive Actions, Are Obstructing Drug Competition
The flaws driving up costs across the broader health care landscape are also driving up the costs for innovative drugs. After all, pharmaceuticals are an integral component used in combination with the broader healthcare system. As a result, spending on medicines both influences and is influenced by the spending on ...
Wayne Winegarden
July 30, 2025
The New Medicine Tariffs Are a Prescription for Disaster
President Trump has recently struck trade agreements with the European Union and Japan. Both deals will impose a 15 percent tariff on imported prescription drugs and active pharmaceutical ingredients. White House officials believe these tariffs will benefit Americans by nudging pharmaceutical companies to relocate their manufacturing operations stateside in order ...
How innovation saves lives: What America’s pharmaceutical ecosystem gets right
When a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States today, her chances of surviving are much greater than in decades past — thanks to U.S. innovation. The incidence of breast cancer has increased by more than 200% globally in the past 40 years. But the U.S. mortality ...
What’s The GLP-1 Black Market, How Big a Threat Is It?
A black market in weight-loss drugs is flourishing in plain sight. Rogue pharmacies and telehealth firms are flooding the United States with unauthorized knock-offs of semaglutide, tirzepatide, and other glucagon-like peptide-1 drugs. Better known by brand names like Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, and Zepbound, the knock-off versions of these drugs are ...
Generics Must Compete On Price, Not Safety
America’s generic drug market is one of our greatest health policy successes. Today, 91% of all prescriptions in the U.S. are filled with generics. That dominance saves patients and taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars every year—and it also drives innovation. Drugmakers know their monopoly on a new treatment will ...
The Inflationary Effect of Drug Price Controls
In a bill chock full of bad policies, the drug pricing provision of the Inflation Reduction Act stands out as particularly troubling. This provision establishes a negotiation process to set a Maximum Fair Price (MFP) on selected drugs for Medicare patients. Because the legislation calls the MFP a negotiation doesn’t ...
The Trump Administration Is Reviving Its Worst Drug Pricing Policies
It’s been a big year for revivals. There’s a new Jurassic Park movie, a reunion tour featuring 1990s rock band Oasis, and a Harry Potter television series in the works. President Trump is also looking to revive some of the policies he tried to enact during his first term. He ...
Drugmakers Are Embracing Direct-To-Consumer Sales. That’s Fantastic News For Patients.
Several Big Pharma companies have started selling their drugs directly to consumers (DTC). This shift — driven in part by President Trump’s push for lower drug prices and fewer middlemen — has garnered relatively little media coverage. But the implications for American patients, employers, and the healthcare system as a ...
Drug Tariffs Cure Nothing and Are a Tax Increase
President Donald Trump has made no secret of his desire for sweeping tariffs on pharmaceuticals. Last month, the president threatened tariffs as high as 200% on imported drugs. The trade deal with the European Union (EU) finalized July 27 includes a 15% levy on medicines imported from the continent. Drug ...
We don’t need socialism to cut drug prices. Americans get a good deal
Nearly nine in every 10 Americans say that prescription drug prices are too high. Yet the average prescription costs less in the U.S. than in other developed countries, according to a new study from professor Tomas Phillipson, the former chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. That finding ...
Read part 3 of a series on drug pricing
Regulations, Not Anticompetitive Actions, Are Obstructing Drug Competition
The flaws driving up costs across the broader health care landscape are also driving up the costs for innovative drugs. After all, pharmaceuticals are an integral component used in combination with the broader healthcare system. As a result, spending on medicines both influences and is influenced by the spending on ...