Drug Innovation
Commentary
Reining in the true culprit behind critical medicine shortages
Drug shortages in the United States have reached crisis levels. The Food and Drug Administration reports that nearly 140 medicines are currently in short supply. That figure includes more than a dozen cancer drugs, which has forced doctors and patients to confront the dangerous possibility of rationing. These shortages threaten ...
Sally C. Pipes
December 17, 2023
Commentary
Giving The Gov’t Drug Patent March-In Authority Is Bad Policy
In early December, the Biden administration announced a proposal on exercising march-in rights on taxpayer-funded drugs and other inventions that allows prices to “be a factor in considering whether a drug is accessible to the public.” This is a terrible idea. As the Congressional Research Service summarized, it is an ...
Wayne Winegarden
December 13, 2023
Commentary
Reforming PBM Practices Would Improve The Pharmacy Market
Patients, the ultimate healthcare arbiter, continue to bear the costs from the perverse incentives driving the pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) market. Because of these disincentives patients pay excessive out-of-pocket costs. Just as troubling, the misaligned incentives create impediments that dictate where patients can fill their prescriptions and which prescriptions they can ...
Wayne Winegarden
December 4, 2023
Commentary
The Federal Trade Commission’s Assault On Growth
The FTC’s mission is to protect consumers by ensuring that markets are competitive, not to protect competitors. Presumably, the Commissioners imagine that the theoretical harm to competitors will somehow make consumers worse off, but if this sounds far-fetched, this is precisely what an FTC administrative judge concluded when hearing the ...
Wayne Winegarden
October 31, 2023
Commentary
Government Regulation Threatens Life-Saving Innovation
Drug Companies Are Delivering a “Golden Age of Medicine.” Let’s Protect It.
New vaccines for scourges like malaria and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV. New cancer drugs that can cut death rates by half or even cause complete remission. The discovery of a biomarker that could identify people who would benefit from investigational drugs for Parkinson’s Disease. Breakthrough treatments that curb obesity ...
Sally C. Pipes
September 6, 2023
Commentary
Learn how price controls threaten access to drugs
Despite Democrats’ Celebratory Mood, It’s A Sad Day For American Patients.
President Joe Biden celebrated a milestone today—but American patients have no reason to cheer. The White House announced the first 10 prescription drugs that, starting in 2026, will be subject to price controls authorized by the Inflation Reduction Act . . . It’s laudable that lawmakers want to reduce out-of-pocket ...
Sally C. Pipes
August 29, 2023
Commentary
Bipartisan Price Transparency Reforms Will Improve Outcomes
Beneficial healthcare change is occurring – in a bipartisan manner too. The reform, referred to as the Transparency in Coverage (Tic) rule, improves the functioning of the healthcare market; and unlike the calls for price controls or increased government distortions, improving the efficiency of the healthcare market can achieve the ...
Wayne Winegarden
August 2, 2023
Commentary
PBM Industry Shadowy, Congress Shines Much Needed Light
The last few months have seen a flurry of activity on Capitol Hill regarding prescription drug reform, with a particular focus on pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs. The U.S. Senate Finance Committee is set to markup a bipartisan PBM reform bill within the next few days. The House Energy and Commerce ...
Sally C. Pipes
July 25, 2023
Commentary
Imposing Price Controls Is Never The Answer
The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee is currently reauthorizing the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA), which is supposed to help us prepare for the next public health emergency. Never missing an opportunity to impose price controls on anything and everything, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) wants to ...
Wayne Winegarden
July 17, 2023
Reining in the true culprit behind critical medicine shortages
Drug shortages in the United States have reached crisis levels. The Food and Drug Administration reports that nearly 140 medicines are currently in short supply. That figure includes more than a dozen cancer drugs, which has forced doctors and patients to confront the dangerous possibility of rationing. These shortages threaten ...
Giving The Gov’t Drug Patent March-In Authority Is Bad Policy
In early December, the Biden administration announced a proposal on exercising march-in rights on taxpayer-funded drugs and other inventions that allows prices to “be a factor in considering whether a drug is accessible to the public.” This is a terrible idea. As the Congressional Research Service summarized, it is an ...
Reforming PBM Practices Would Improve The Pharmacy Market
Patients, the ultimate healthcare arbiter, continue to bear the costs from the perverse incentives driving the pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) market. Because of these disincentives patients pay excessive out-of-pocket costs. Just as troubling, the misaligned incentives create impediments that dictate where patients can fill their prescriptions and which prescriptions they can ...
The Federal Trade Commission’s Assault On Growth
The FTC’s mission is to protect consumers by ensuring that markets are competitive, not to protect competitors. Presumably, the Commissioners imagine that the theoretical harm to competitors will somehow make consumers worse off, but if this sounds far-fetched, this is precisely what an FTC administrative judge concluded when hearing the ...
Government Regulation Threatens Life-Saving Innovation
Drug Companies Are Delivering a “Golden Age of Medicine.” Let’s Protect It.
New vaccines for scourges like malaria and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV. New cancer drugs that can cut death rates by half or even cause complete remission. The discovery of a biomarker that could identify people who would benefit from investigational drugs for Parkinson’s Disease. Breakthrough treatments that curb obesity ...
Learn how price controls threaten access to drugs
Despite Democrats’ Celebratory Mood, It’s A Sad Day For American Patients.
President Joe Biden celebrated a milestone today—but American patients have no reason to cheer. The White House announced the first 10 prescription drugs that, starting in 2026, will be subject to price controls authorized by the Inflation Reduction Act . . . It’s laudable that lawmakers want to reduce out-of-pocket ...
Bipartisan Price Transparency Reforms Will Improve Outcomes
Beneficial healthcare change is occurring – in a bipartisan manner too. The reform, referred to as the Transparency in Coverage (Tic) rule, improves the functioning of the healthcare market; and unlike the calls for price controls or increased government distortions, improving the efficiency of the healthcare market can achieve the ...
PBM Industry Shadowy, Congress Shines Much Needed Light
The last few months have seen a flurry of activity on Capitol Hill regarding prescription drug reform, with a particular focus on pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs. The U.S. Senate Finance Committee is set to markup a bipartisan PBM reform bill within the next few days. The House Energy and Commerce ...
Imposing Price Controls Is Never The Answer
The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee is currently reauthorizing the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA), which is supposed to help us prepare for the next public health emergency. Never missing an opportunity to impose price controls on anything and everything, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) wants to ...