How high are drug prices in the US? So high that the Canadian government may remove the US from its long-standing list of countries that are used as a guide for determining whether prices are excessive.
In a proposal issued last week, Health Canada said it wants to overhaul the framework used by the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board, which assesses therapeutic benefits and sets ceiling prices. Right now, this is accomplished, in part, by benchmarking prices against what drug makers currently charge in seven other countries — the US, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK.
About the Author Reprints
“… among all 35 countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, only the US and Mexico have higher patented drug prices than Canada.” Not the point of the story, but still — why on earth are prices in Mexico among the very highest in the OECD??