Press Release
Drug Innovation
California Supreme Court Decision Protects Future Medical Innovation
The Pacific Research Institute – the non-partisan, California-based, free-market think tank – today hailed a landmark California Supreme Court decision protecting future medical innovation. The ruling in the Gilead Tenofir Cases overturns a lower court decision that threatened to expose pharmaceutical innovators to sweeping new liability for decisions about the ...
Pacific Research Institute
August 3, 2026
Health Care
New PRI Study: California’s Medi-Cal Crisis Leaves Taxpayers Paying for Fraud, Waste, and Runaway Costs
SACRAMENTO – Just weeks after California approved a record state budget of $351.7 billion for fiscal year 2026-27 that scaled back portions of its Medi-Cal expansion because of soaring costs, and as the federal government announced it was pausing $867.5 million in Medicaid payments to California, the Pacific Research Institute ...
Sally C. Pipes
July 21, 2026
Biosimilars
New Study: States Could Save Up to $1.8 Billion Annually by Prioritizing Lower-Cost Biosimilar Medicines
At a time when states across the country are grappling with significant budget challenges, a new study from the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the Pacific Research Institute – the nonpartisan, California-based, free market think tank – finds that state employee health plans could save up to $1.8 ...
Wayne H Winegarden
July 7, 2026
340B
Dr. Wayne Winegarden featured in Golden State Today: 340B Transparency is “Nonexistent”
California economist: ‘The transparency is nonexistent’ in federal 340b drug discount program By A. R. Baird A California healthcare economist is calling for greater transparency in the federal 340B Drug Pricing Program, arguing that lawmakers, taxpayers and even participating hospitals lack sufficient reporting to determine whether billions of dollars in ...
Pacific Research Institute
June 30, 2026
Drug Innovation
Unauthorized GLP-1 Knockoffs Risk Patient Safety and Future Innovation, New PRI Brief Warns
As federal regulators intensify enforcement against companies selling unauthorized knockoffs of blockbuster weight-loss drugs, a new Pacific Research Institute brief warns that the booming GLP-1 knockoff market is creating patient safety risks while undermining future breakthrough medicines. “GLP-1s are among the most promising medical breakthroughs in decades, helping patients struggling ...
Wayne Winegarden
June 11, 2026
Book
America’s Smaller Cities Hold Big Answers for Urban Revival, New PRI Booklet Finds
As policymakers search for answers to the growing challenges facing America’s largest cities, a new study from the Pacific Research Institute – the California-based, nonpartisan, free market think tank – suggests they may be looking in the wrong places. PRI’s Free Cities Center today released Urban Policy Beyond the Nation’s ...
Steven Greenhut
April 29, 2026
Business & Economics
New PRI Study Finds California Job Growth Lags Nation, High Costs Turn State’s Income Advantage into 35% Deficit
A new study released today by the Pacific Research Institute finds that California’s economic performance has fallen sharply behind the rest of the nation, with job growth since the COVID-19 pandemic at less than half the national rate, while the state’s high cost of living is erasing its income advantage. ...
Wayne Winegarden and Kerry Jackson
April 9, 2026
Health Care
ISSUE BRIEF: Government Policy Is Consolidating the Practice of Medicine
Read the Brief A new issue brief released today by the Pacific Research Institute—the California-based, nonpartisan, free market think tank—finds that certain states’ efforts to tighten corporate practice of medicine laws hurt independent physicians, empower hospitals to consolidate local provider markets, and raise healthcare costs. “Competition is a prerequisite for ...
Wayne Winegarden
February 10, 2026
Drug Prices
ISSUE BRIEF: Biopharma Drug Makers Are Not the Most Profitable Players in Health Care
A new issue brief released by the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute finds that innovative drug manufacturers earn some of the lowest risk-adjusted returns in the U.S. health care system, despite making the largest investments in research and development. The findings challenge the ...
Pacific Research Institute
January 21, 2026
Drug Prices
PRI Files Amicus Brief in Major Supreme Court Case That Could Upend Future Medical Innovation Nationwide
SACRAMENTO – California-based free market think tank the Pacific Research Institute announced today that it has filed an amicus curiae brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear two cases challenging the federal government’s new prescription drug pricing program enacted under the Inflation Reduction Act. The cases, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ...
Pacific Research Institute
January 16, 2026
California Supreme Court Decision Protects Future Medical Innovation
The Pacific Research Institute – the non-partisan, California-based, free-market think tank – today hailed a landmark California Supreme Court decision protecting future medical innovation. The ruling in the Gilead Tenofir Cases overturns a lower court decision that threatened to expose pharmaceutical innovators to sweeping new liability for decisions about the ...
New PRI Study: California’s Medi-Cal Crisis Leaves Taxpayers Paying for Fraud, Waste, and Runaway Costs
SACRAMENTO – Just weeks after California approved a record state budget of $351.7 billion for fiscal year 2026-27 that scaled back portions of its Medi-Cal expansion because of soaring costs, and as the federal government announced it was pausing $867.5 million in Medicaid payments to California, the Pacific Research Institute ...
New Study: States Could Save Up to $1.8 Billion Annually by Prioritizing Lower-Cost Biosimilar Medicines
At a time when states across the country are grappling with significant budget challenges, a new study from the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the Pacific Research Institute – the nonpartisan, California-based, free market think tank – finds that state employee health plans could save up to $1.8 ...
Dr. Wayne Winegarden featured in Golden State Today: 340B Transparency is “Nonexistent”
California economist: ‘The transparency is nonexistent’ in federal 340b drug discount program By A. R. Baird A California healthcare economist is calling for greater transparency in the federal 340B Drug Pricing Program, arguing that lawmakers, taxpayers and even participating hospitals lack sufficient reporting to determine whether billions of dollars in ...
Unauthorized GLP-1 Knockoffs Risk Patient Safety and Future Innovation, New PRI Brief Warns
As federal regulators intensify enforcement against companies selling unauthorized knockoffs of blockbuster weight-loss drugs, a new Pacific Research Institute brief warns that the booming GLP-1 knockoff market is creating patient safety risks while undermining future breakthrough medicines. “GLP-1s are among the most promising medical breakthroughs in decades, helping patients struggling ...
America’s Smaller Cities Hold Big Answers for Urban Revival, New PRI Booklet Finds
As policymakers search for answers to the growing challenges facing America’s largest cities, a new study from the Pacific Research Institute – the California-based, nonpartisan, free market think tank – suggests they may be looking in the wrong places. PRI’s Free Cities Center today released Urban Policy Beyond the Nation’s ...
New PRI Study Finds California Job Growth Lags Nation, High Costs Turn State’s Income Advantage into 35% Deficit
A new study released today by the Pacific Research Institute finds that California’s economic performance has fallen sharply behind the rest of the nation, with job growth since the COVID-19 pandemic at less than half the national rate, while the state’s high cost of living is erasing its income advantage. ...
ISSUE BRIEF: Government Policy Is Consolidating the Practice of Medicine
Read the Brief A new issue brief released today by the Pacific Research Institute—the California-based, nonpartisan, free market think tank—finds that certain states’ efforts to tighten corporate practice of medicine laws hurt independent physicians, empower hospitals to consolidate local provider markets, and raise healthcare costs. “Competition is a prerequisite for ...
ISSUE BRIEF: Biopharma Drug Makers Are Not the Most Profitable Players in Health Care
A new issue brief released by the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute finds that innovative drug manufacturers earn some of the lowest risk-adjusted returns in the U.S. health care system, despite making the largest investments in research and development. The findings challenge the ...
PRI Files Amicus Brief in Major Supreme Court Case That Could Upend Future Medical Innovation Nationwide
SACRAMENTO – California-based free market think tank the Pacific Research Institute announced today that it has filed an amicus curiae brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear two cases challenging the federal government’s new prescription drug pricing program enacted under the Inflation Reduction Act. The cases, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ...