Drug Pricing
Blog
The 340B Discounts Hospitals Receive Will Often Exceed Total Drug Prices in Europe
Table 1: PBM Fees and Rebates Can Exceed International Prescription Medicine Prices by As Much As 900% I previously highlighted how estimated rebates and fees PBMs receive for 10 commonly used brand medicines far exceed the total prices of those medicines in eight OECD countries (see Table 1). For example, ...
Drug Importation
Listen to Sally Pipes on “Free the Economy” podcast
Listen to PRI President, CEO, and Thomas W. Smith Fellow in Health Care Policy Sally C. Pipes discuss her new book The World’s Medicine Chest (Encounter Books) on the Free the Economy podcast from the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Click here to listen
Drug Pricing
D.C.’s Embrace of Price Controls Bad News for Patients
President Trump announced his intention last month to peg U.S. drug prices to those that foreign governments have set within their borders. The very same day, federal officials said they’d reveal in February 2026 a list of 15 drugs subject to price controls through Medicare’s Part B outpatient benefit and ...
Commentary
Potential Tariffs Will Harm Patients In The Name Of Protecting Them
Two months ago, the Commerce Department launched an investigation into whether pharmaceutical imports pose a threat to national security (i.e., a Section 232 investigation). Not only are the investigation’s accusations groundless, implementing the proposed remedy – more tariffs – will create the very problems that the investigation hopes to avoid. ...
Commentary
Tying U.S. Drug Prices To Foreign Markets Risks Innovation And Lives
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump signed what he called “one of the most consequential Executive Orders in our Country’s history.” The order is essentially an updated version of his administration’s 2020 “Most Favored Nation” policy. It directs pharmaceutical companies to tie the U.S. prices of their drugs to the ...
Blog
Don’t Take Cutting-Edge Drugs for Granted
It’s hard to imagine a more destructive plan. Importing foreign price controls on prescription drugs would reduce access to existing treatments for everything from rare diseases to cancer. To understand why, consider two recent pieces by Michael Baker for the American Action Forum’s “Reality Check-Up: The Truth About Single-Payer Systems.” ...
Commentary
Trump’s ‘Most Favored Nation’ Drug Plan Doesn’t Favor Americans
Last week, President Donald Trump revived one of the most ill-conceived health policy ideas of his first term. Via a new executive order, he’s directed his administration to deliver “most-favored-nation prescription drug pricing to American patients.” The idea is to bring other developed countries’ lower drug prices to the United ...
Blog
Read the latest on the push for drug price controls
To Improve Drug Affordability Congress Should Fix the Payment System
Demanding that drug prices in the U.S. equal overseas prices is akin to demanding that the price of all expensive handbags should equal the prices for the knockoffs that people purchase from street vendors. Of course knockoff bags are cheaper. They violate the intellectual property rights of the bag’s maker, ...
Commentary
Trump Should Support Effective Drug Policy Reforms Not The MFN Gimmick
The Trump Administration has announced its desire to impose price controls on drugs – officially called a most favored nation (MFN) policy. Essentially, the policy sets the price for the targeted drugs at the lowest price in other industrialized countries. The president’s justification for the MFN is simple: Americans are ...
Commentary
Why sunblock in the U.S. is so much worse than in the E.U.
One in five Americans will develop skin cancer by age 70. Yet regulators in the United States have not approved sunscreens that can more effectively prevent the disease. Such safetyism makes little sense. Americans receive more diagnoses for skin cancer than for all other forms of cancer combined. It’s long ...
The 340B Discounts Hospitals Receive Will Often Exceed Total Drug Prices in Europe
Table 1: PBM Fees and Rebates Can Exceed International Prescription Medicine Prices by As Much As 900% I previously highlighted how estimated rebates and fees PBMs receive for 10 commonly used brand medicines far exceed the total prices of those medicines in eight OECD countries (see Table 1). For example, ...
Listen to Sally Pipes on “Free the Economy” podcast
Listen to PRI President, CEO, and Thomas W. Smith Fellow in Health Care Policy Sally C. Pipes discuss her new book The World’s Medicine Chest (Encounter Books) on the Free the Economy podcast from the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Click here to listen
D.C.’s Embrace of Price Controls Bad News for Patients
President Trump announced his intention last month to peg U.S. drug prices to those that foreign governments have set within their borders. The very same day, federal officials said they’d reveal in February 2026 a list of 15 drugs subject to price controls through Medicare’s Part B outpatient benefit and ...
Potential Tariffs Will Harm Patients In The Name Of Protecting Them
Two months ago, the Commerce Department launched an investigation into whether pharmaceutical imports pose a threat to national security (i.e., a Section 232 investigation). Not only are the investigation’s accusations groundless, implementing the proposed remedy – more tariffs – will create the very problems that the investigation hopes to avoid. ...
Tying U.S. Drug Prices To Foreign Markets Risks Innovation And Lives
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump signed what he called “one of the most consequential Executive Orders in our Country’s history.” The order is essentially an updated version of his administration’s 2020 “Most Favored Nation” policy. It directs pharmaceutical companies to tie the U.S. prices of their drugs to the ...
Don’t Take Cutting-Edge Drugs for Granted
It’s hard to imagine a more destructive plan. Importing foreign price controls on prescription drugs would reduce access to existing treatments for everything from rare diseases to cancer. To understand why, consider two recent pieces by Michael Baker for the American Action Forum’s “Reality Check-Up: The Truth About Single-Payer Systems.” ...
Trump’s ‘Most Favored Nation’ Drug Plan Doesn’t Favor Americans
Last week, President Donald Trump revived one of the most ill-conceived health policy ideas of his first term. Via a new executive order, he’s directed his administration to deliver “most-favored-nation prescription drug pricing to American patients.” The idea is to bring other developed countries’ lower drug prices to the United ...
Read the latest on the push for drug price controls
To Improve Drug Affordability Congress Should Fix the Payment System
Demanding that drug prices in the U.S. equal overseas prices is akin to demanding that the price of all expensive handbags should equal the prices for the knockoffs that people purchase from street vendors. Of course knockoff bags are cheaper. They violate the intellectual property rights of the bag’s maker, ...
Trump Should Support Effective Drug Policy Reforms Not The MFN Gimmick
The Trump Administration has announced its desire to impose price controls on drugs – officially called a most favored nation (MFN) policy. Essentially, the policy sets the price for the targeted drugs at the lowest price in other industrialized countries. The president’s justification for the MFN is simple: Americans are ...
Why sunblock in the U.S. is so much worse than in the E.U.
One in five Americans will develop skin cancer by age 70. Yet regulators in the United States have not approved sunscreens that can more effectively prevent the disease. Such safetyism makes little sense. Americans receive more diagnoses for skin cancer than for all other forms of cancer combined. It’s long ...
