Drug Prices
Drug Prices
New 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
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 ...
Sally C. Pipes
December 31, 2025
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, ...
Sally C. Pipes
December 24, 2025
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 ...
Sally C. Pipes
December 17, 2025
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 ...
Sally C. Pipes
December 15, 2025
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 ...
Sally C. Pipes
December 10, 2025
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 ...
Sally C. Pipes
December 8, 2025
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 ...
Sally C. Pipes
December 1, 2025
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 ...
Sally C. Pipes
November 24, 2025
New 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. ...
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 ...
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, ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
