Getting to Lower Prescription Drug Prices: The Key Drivers of Costs and What Policymakers Can Do to Address Them

Commonwealth Fund October 1, 2020
Henry Waxman, Bill Corr, Jeremy Sharp, Ruth McDonald, Kahaari Kenyatta

Toplines

Further policy action is needed to reduce high prescription drug prices, including ending manufacturers’ patent abuses and making the drug supply chain more transparent

Options for lowering prescription drug prices include turning the government into a more responsible purchaser, ending pharmaceutical practices that block competition, and fixing incentives in the drug supply chain

Abstract

• Issue: Unsustainably high prescription drug prices are a concern for patients, employers, states, and the federal government. There is widespread public support for addressing the problem, and enacting policies to lower drug prices has been a top concern for Congress and the administration over the past three years. Despite this attention, structural changes have not been enacted to rein in drug prices.
• Goal: To...

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