A bipartisan group of lawmakers will re-introduce a bill on Tuesday that would require drug makers to justify their pricing and provide a breakdown of their expenses before raising prices on some medicines.
Under the Fair Drug Pricing Act, companies will have to notify the US Department of Health and Human Services and submit a report 30 days before they increase the price of certain drugs that cost at least $100 by more than 10 percent in one year, or 25 percent over three years. The bill is being co-sponsored by Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.), and US Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.)
As with the bill introduced last fall, the reports will also require drug makers to provide manufacturing, R&D, and marketing costs, as well as net profits associated with the drugs. The legislation will not prohibit companies from increasing prices, but the bill is supposed to give taxpayers notice of price increases and “bring basic transparency to the market for prescription drugs.”
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They are looking at wrong waste product. In 2015 the three time winner of the Boston Marathon was caught doping with EPO. That will beat an optimized fecal flora any day of the week.
Just as the industry can argue against what they “called it a “thinly veiled attempt to build a case for government price setting”, one can also argue that their increases are “a thinly veiled attempt to price gouge in the name of (excessive) profit.” Everyone has their own point of view – now if we could just have Senator Moynihan’s single set of facts to argue from.