Florida’s plan to save cash by importing medicines from Canada, authorized this month by the Meals and Drug Administration, has renewed consideration on the price of prescribed drugs in america.
Analysis has persistently discovered that drug costs in America are considerably higher than these in different rich international locations. In 2018, they had been nearly double these in France and Britain, even when accounting for the reductions that may considerably scale back how a lot American well being plans and employers pay.
“The U.S. market is the financial institution for pharmaceutical corporations,” mentioned Ameet Sarpatwari, an professional in pharmaceutical coverage at Harvard Medical College. “There’s a eager sense that the very best place to attempt to extract income is the U.S. due to its present system and its dysfunction.”
Listed here are six causes medicine in america price a lot:
1. There isn’t a central negotiator keen to stroll away.
Different rich international locations depend on a single negotiating physique — often the federal government — to determine whether or not to just accept the worth a pharmaceutical firm needs to cost. In america, negotiations with drug makers are cut up amongst tens of 1000’s of well being plans, leading to far much less bargaining muscle for the patrons.
Different nations additionally conduct cautious analyses of how a lot further profit a brand new drug presents over medicine already in the marketplace — and at what price. If the associated fee is simply too excessive and the profit too small, these international locations are extra keen to say no to a brand new drug.
