Drug Prices - A free market solution

Health
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1

My proposal would require legislation, so it could not be done entirely administratively.

The problem:

  1. Americans pay far more for drugs than other countries
  2. Other countries control drug prices using market restricting price controls
  3. Allowing drugs to be bought back is a great first step but will still add double the shipping cost to the price drugs can be sold for

The solution. Modify patent law. Instead of drug patents protecting drug companies from exact imitation, the patent will instead secure a percentage of all sales (not profits but sales) for the company that secures the patent. For example if company A patents Penicillin 2.0 they can make and sell Penicillin 2.0 at full profit. If company B wants to also provide Penicillin 2.0 to it’s customers and it can produce the product for $2.50 and sell it for $10 they will be taxed for example 25% ($2.50) to be payed to the developer of the drug and can walk away with $5 in profit. It’s a radical solution, but it would make drugs truly competitive without eliminating the insensitive for research. The government may have to provide more research grants for less significant diseases, but the patent tax should be reduced by the % of the research that was payed by the government. Americans would save far more in medical costs than they would lose funding research.

Final note. Maybe 25% isn’t high enough to provide a proper monetary incentive to drive research. That number could be flexible. The point is to open up competition which will streamline production and drive down prices.

2

I want all prescription medication and otc’s gotten out of China.

3

I’m not sure I understand. You don’t want American companies to be allowed to sell medication to China? Or are you saying that you want an import ban on medication? If your meaning is the latter, I think that’s a different topic as it has more to do with national security than it does with medication affordability. I’m not saying I disagree necessarily, just that it’s solving a different problem.

4

To be clear I don’t want our meds produced in China.