Drug Prices

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How can we make drugs more affordable without sacrificing future cures?

How can we make drugs more affordable without sacrificing future cures? To a large extent, the current system works fairly well already to make most of the drugs that Americans take affordable. And that’s because of our robust generics market. Around 90% of prescriptions filled each year are for generics ...
Blog

Do price controls affect which drugs patients have access to and how soon?

Do price controls affect which drugs patients have access to and how soon? They absolutely do. Just look at the situation in Europe. For years, drug companies have been choosing to withhold certain medicines from European markets rather than accept the price constraints imposed by governments there. As a result, ...
Blog

How do price controls damage innovation?

What role do intellectual property laws play in encouraging innovation? They are absolutely essential. IP protections like patents reward those who succeed in creating new medicines and ushering them through the regulatory approval process. They do this by guaranteeing that the IP rights holder behind a new drug will have ...
Commentary

The real story behind Trump’s GLP-1 price cut: Markets still rule

President Donald Trump just announced deals with drugmakers Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk that will yield lower prices for GLP-1 weight-loss drugs dispensed through Medicare and Medicaid. Both firms have also agreed to sell the drugs at lower prices on Trump’s yet-to-be-developed online marketplace for prescription drugs, TrumpRx. Lilly and ...
Blog

How did the US become the world’s center of pharmaceutical innovation?

What kinds of policies helped the US surpass Great Britain to become the world’s center of pharmaceutical innovation? I think it was a combination of shrewd reforms on the part of the United States, and self-destructive reforms on the part of Europe and other developed nations. In the 1970s, Europe ...
Commentary

Trade Policy Is The Right Way To Fight Foreign Freeloading

Last week, the United States and the United Kingdom announced a trade deal that will require Britain’s National Health Service to pay more for novel prescription drugs in exchange for a reprieve of at least three years from tariffs on its pharmaceutical exports. It’s a perfect example of how the ...
Commentary

Competition, not price controls, just slashed GLP-1 prices

Novo Nordisk just announced price cuts for Ozempic and Wegovy, whose list prices as recently as last year were around $1,000 a month. Patients buying directly from the manufacturer will be able to pay as little as $349 for a monthly dose of these medicines. The company has also dropped ...
Commentary

A Healthy Dose Of Competition Sends Weight-Loss Drug Prices Plummeting

Prices for GLP-1 weight-loss medications are dropping fast. Last week, Novo Nordisk—maker of Ozempic and Wegovy—announced it would cut prices for monthly supplies of both drugs to as low as $349 for existing patients buying directly. For new customers, the price will fall to just $199 a month for the ...
Drug Prices

ISSUE BRIEF: Stronger Reforms Needed to Fix Medicare Competitive Bidding Problems

SACRAMENTO – Proposed reforms to fix the problems with the current Medicare bidding process for acquiring prosthetics, CPAP machines, wheelchairs and other durable medical equipment don’t go far enough to fix the fundamental flaws in the process, finds a new brief released today by the Center for Medical Economics and ...
Commentary

Trump Delivers Mixed Results on Health Reform

Since taking office in January, President Trump has wasted little time advancing health policies he hopes will lower costs, improve quality, and promote innovation. Those are goals worth supporting, to be sure. But the results of his efforts to date have been mixed. Consider Trump’s approach to prescription drug prices. ...
Blog

How can we make drugs more affordable without sacrificing future cures?

How can we make drugs more affordable without sacrificing future cures? To a large extent, the current system works fairly well already to make most of the drugs that Americans take affordable. And that’s because of our robust generics market. Around 90% of prescriptions filled each year are for generics ...
Blog

Do price controls affect which drugs patients have access to and how soon?

Do price controls affect which drugs patients have access to and how soon? They absolutely do. Just look at the situation in Europe. For years, drug companies have been choosing to withhold certain medicines from European markets rather than accept the price constraints imposed by governments there. As a result, ...
Blog

How do price controls damage innovation?

What role do intellectual property laws play in encouraging innovation? They are absolutely essential. IP protections like patents reward those who succeed in creating new medicines and ushering them through the regulatory approval process. They do this by guaranteeing that the IP rights holder behind a new drug will have ...
Commentary

The real story behind Trump’s GLP-1 price cut: Markets still rule

President Donald Trump just announced deals with drugmakers Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk that will yield lower prices for GLP-1 weight-loss drugs dispensed through Medicare and Medicaid. Both firms have also agreed to sell the drugs at lower prices on Trump’s yet-to-be-developed online marketplace for prescription drugs, TrumpRx. Lilly and ...
Blog

How did the US become the world’s center of pharmaceutical innovation?

What kinds of policies helped the US surpass Great Britain to become the world’s center of pharmaceutical innovation? I think it was a combination of shrewd reforms on the part of the United States, and self-destructive reforms on the part of Europe and other developed nations. In the 1970s, Europe ...
Commentary

Trade Policy Is The Right Way To Fight Foreign Freeloading

Last week, the United States and the United Kingdom announced a trade deal that will require Britain’s National Health Service to pay more for novel prescription drugs in exchange for a reprieve of at least three years from tariffs on its pharmaceutical exports. It’s a perfect example of how the ...
Commentary

Competition, not price controls, just slashed GLP-1 prices

Novo Nordisk just announced price cuts for Ozempic and Wegovy, whose list prices as recently as last year were around $1,000 a month. Patients buying directly from the manufacturer will be able to pay as little as $349 for a monthly dose of these medicines. The company has also dropped ...
Commentary

A Healthy Dose Of Competition Sends Weight-Loss Drug Prices Plummeting

Prices for GLP-1 weight-loss medications are dropping fast. Last week, Novo Nordisk—maker of Ozempic and Wegovy—announced it would cut prices for monthly supplies of both drugs to as low as $349 for existing patients buying directly. For new customers, the price will fall to just $199 a month for the ...
Drug Prices

ISSUE BRIEF: Stronger Reforms Needed to Fix Medicare Competitive Bidding Problems

SACRAMENTO – Proposed reforms to fix the problems with the current Medicare bidding process for acquiring prosthetics, CPAP machines, wheelchairs and other durable medical equipment don’t go far enough to fix the fundamental flaws in the process, finds a new brief released today by the Center for Medical Economics and ...
Commentary

Trump Delivers Mixed Results on Health Reform

Since taking office in January, President Trump has wasted little time advancing health policies he hopes will lower costs, improve quality, and promote innovation. Those are goals worth supporting, to be sure. But the results of his efforts to date have been mixed. Consider Trump’s approach to prescription drug prices. ...
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