Health Care Innovation

Health Care

Why Pharmaceutical Prices Drop Once Drugs Are Off-Patent

Today PRI released the new report “The Economics of Pharmaceutical Pricing” by PRI senior fellow Wayne Winegarden, Ph.D. The study examines the market forces influencing the often dramatic price differences in pharmaceutical drugs before and after their patents expire. “Some critics erroneously see the sharp declines in the prices of ...
Commentary

Industry Succeeds Where Obamacare Fails

Walmart is about to get into the health insurance business. The retail giant’s Sam’s Club division just announced that it would launch a private health insurance exchange for its small-business customers. Business owners shopping at the wholesaler will effectively be able to pick up health insurance for their employees along ...
Commentary

The News Is The Declining Incentives For Medical Innovation

The federal health exchange Healthcare.gov, one of the centerpieces of the Affordable Care Act (ACA or “ObamaCare”), is gasping for life.  This is not the important story, however. The U.S. health care system has flaws.  And, these flaws should have been the focus of the health care reforms back in ...
Commentary

India’s War On Intellectual Property Rights May Bring With It A Body Count

Last month, drug maker Roche withdrew its patents for the breast-cancer drug Herceptin in India — and thus gave tacit approval to other companies to make low-cost generic versions of the drug. But the withdrawal of those patents was not completely voluntary. If the Swiss pharmaceutical firm had not relinquished ...
Commentary

Government Mandates Don’t Lower Health Care Costs

Free lunches are often the most expensive meals. And yet, when it comes to the nation’s health care system, the federal government blindly offers free lunch buffets in lieu of policies that would actually address the core problems of the nation’s health care system. An example of this free lunch ...
Commentary

Bend The Healthcare Cost Curve Downward By Letting Healthcare Costs Rise

Earlier this year, a team of researchers in Europe decided to examine the relationship between cutting-edge technology and healthcare costs. Some wonks complain that expensive new medical technologies and therapies — some of which deliver only marginal improvements to patient health — are key drivers of health spending. But when ...
Commentary

Treating Alzheimer’s with regulations

Bureaucracy stands in the way of the best treatment The U.S. health care system is rife with rising costs and stagnating quality. All too often, the cure for these ailments calls for ever greater government intervention. Such cures misdiagnose the problem. The health care system’s problems are caused by too ...
Commentary

Big Pharma Accomplishes Big Things, Yet Obama Is Suffocating The Industry

What’s the most research-intensive industry in America? If you guessed Silicon Valley or the energy sector, guess again. In fact, it’s the drug industry. The 31 pharmaceutical companies comprising its main trade group spent $48.5 billion on research and development last year. All told, the pharmaceutical sector has spent $550 ...
Health Care

Myths and Realities of Obamacare

Introduction Three years ago on March 23, 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordability Act (Obamacare) was signed into law. With the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on June 28, 2012 that the individual mandate is constitutional under Congress’ power to tax and the November 6 election results, the law is in ...
Commentary

The Lifesaving Promise Of The Pharmaceutical Drug Pipeline

There was a time not long ago when patients suffering from rare diseases had little hope of finding a medicine that could cure their ills. But in the 30 years since Congress passed the Orphan Drug Act, research into “orphan drugs” — defined as those treating diseases that affect fewer ...
Health Care

Why Pharmaceutical Prices Drop Once Drugs Are Off-Patent

Today PRI released the new report “The Economics of Pharmaceutical Pricing” by PRI senior fellow Wayne Winegarden, Ph.D. The study examines the market forces influencing the often dramatic price differences in pharmaceutical drugs before and after their patents expire. “Some critics erroneously see the sharp declines in the prices of ...
Commentary

Industry Succeeds Where Obamacare Fails

Walmart is about to get into the health insurance business. The retail giant’s Sam’s Club division just announced that it would launch a private health insurance exchange for its small-business customers. Business owners shopping at the wholesaler will effectively be able to pick up health insurance for their employees along ...
Commentary

The News Is The Declining Incentives For Medical Innovation

The federal health exchange Healthcare.gov, one of the centerpieces of the Affordable Care Act (ACA or “ObamaCare”), is gasping for life.  This is not the important story, however. The U.S. health care system has flaws.  And, these flaws should have been the focus of the health care reforms back in ...
Commentary

India’s War On Intellectual Property Rights May Bring With It A Body Count

Last month, drug maker Roche withdrew its patents for the breast-cancer drug Herceptin in India — and thus gave tacit approval to other companies to make low-cost generic versions of the drug. But the withdrawal of those patents was not completely voluntary. If the Swiss pharmaceutical firm had not relinquished ...
Commentary

Government Mandates Don’t Lower Health Care Costs

Free lunches are often the most expensive meals. And yet, when it comes to the nation’s health care system, the federal government blindly offers free lunch buffets in lieu of policies that would actually address the core problems of the nation’s health care system. An example of this free lunch ...
Commentary

Bend The Healthcare Cost Curve Downward By Letting Healthcare Costs Rise

Earlier this year, a team of researchers in Europe decided to examine the relationship between cutting-edge technology and healthcare costs. Some wonks complain that expensive new medical technologies and therapies — some of which deliver only marginal improvements to patient health — are key drivers of health spending. But when ...
Commentary

Treating Alzheimer’s with regulations

Bureaucracy stands in the way of the best treatment The U.S. health care system is rife with rising costs and stagnating quality. All too often, the cure for these ailments calls for ever greater government intervention. Such cures misdiagnose the problem. The health care system’s problems are caused by too ...
Commentary

Big Pharma Accomplishes Big Things, Yet Obama Is Suffocating The Industry

What’s the most research-intensive industry in America? If you guessed Silicon Valley or the energy sector, guess again. In fact, it’s the drug industry. The 31 pharmaceutical companies comprising its main trade group spent $48.5 billion on research and development last year. All told, the pharmaceutical sector has spent $550 ...
Health Care

Myths and Realities of Obamacare

Introduction Three years ago on March 23, 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordability Act (Obamacare) was signed into law. With the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on June 28, 2012 that the individual mandate is constitutional under Congress’ power to tax and the November 6 election results, the law is in ...
Commentary

The Lifesaving Promise Of The Pharmaceutical Drug Pipeline

There was a time not long ago when patients suffering from rare diseases had little hope of finding a medicine that could cure their ills. But in the 30 years since Congress passed the Orphan Drug Act, research into “orphan drugs” — defined as those treating diseases that affect fewer ...
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