The New York Times
09/22/2015
Why Some Policy Experts Question Clinton's Plan to Contain Drug Costs
When critics complain about the high cost of a prescription drug, drug makers tend to have two main defenses. Hilary Rodham Clinton is unveiling her proposal to lower drug costs Tuesday, and she is taking aim at the first defense.
One is that developing drugs is an expensive, risky endeavor, and so companies need high prices to cover the cost of medical research. The second is that their products bring value by improving health and wellness, and the companies should be rewarded for those public benefits.
Hillary Rodham Clinton is unveiling her proposal to lower drug costs Tuesday and is targeting that first defense: if companies really need high prices to spend it on science, then they should be required to spend a set amount of their revenue on research and development costs. She proposes requiring that any additional drug company revenue be plowed back into government research for new therapies. The proposal would apply to any drug company that benefits from federal support — which would mean most of them.
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