AstraZeneca made its case against Medicare’s prescription drug price-setting scheme before a federal judge in Delaware last week. It’s one of several drugmakers challenging the program on constitutional grounds, among them Johnson & Johnson, Merck and Bristol Myers Squibb.
Defenders of the price control plan have portrayed these cases as the machinations of money-grubbing pharmaceutical companies determined to put profit before patients. But that narrative is dead wrong.
Indeed, when a company is in the business of inventing life-saving medicines, profit and patient well-being go hand-in-hand. The real threat to patients comes from Medicare. By upending the system of incentives that drives medical science forward, Medicare’s prescription drug price controls will stifle innovation for years to come.
Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.
Can Constitution Save Us from Drug Price Controls?
Sally C. Pipes
AstraZeneca made its case against Medicare’s prescription drug price-setting scheme before a federal judge in Delaware last week. It’s one of several drugmakers challenging the program on constitutional grounds, among them Johnson & Johnson, Merck and Bristol Myers Squibb.
Defenders of the price control plan have portrayed these cases as the machinations of money-grubbing pharmaceutical companies determined to put profit before patients. But that narrative is dead wrong.
Indeed, when a company is in the business of inventing life-saving medicines, profit and patient well-being go hand-in-hand. The real threat to patients comes from Medicare. By upending the system of incentives that drives medical science forward, Medicare’s prescription drug price controls will stifle innovation for years to come.
Click to read the full article in Newsmax.
Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.