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from the prepare-for-sharply-worded-letters dept.
More drugmakers hike U.S. prices as new year begins:
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Drugmakers including Bristol-Myers Squibb Co (BMY.N), Gilead Sciences Inc (GILD.O), and Biogen Inc (BIIB.O) hiked U.S. list prices on more than 50 drugs on Wednesday, bringing total New Year’s Day drug price increases to more than 250, according to data analyzed by healthcare research firm 3 Axis Advisors.
Reuters reported on Tuesday that drugmakers including Pfizer Inc (PFE.N), GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK.L) and Sanofi SA (SASY.PA) were planning to increase prices on more than 200 drugs in the United States on Jan. 1.
Nearly all of the price increases are below 10% and the median price increase is around 5%, according to 3 Axis.
More early year price increases could still be announced.
Soaring U.S. prescription drug prices are expected to again be a central issue in the presidential election. President Donald Trump, who made bringing them down a core pledge of his 2016 campaign, is running for re-election in 2020.
[...] The United States, which leaves drug pricing to market competition, has higher prices than in other countries where governments directly or indirectly control the costs, making it the world’s most lucrative market for manufacturers.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Tokolosh on Thursday January 02 2020, @03:03PM (2 children)
If you think America is a bastion of free markets and capitalism, and the Nordic countries (and others) are state-directed socialist regimes, I urge you to read "The Great Reversal - How America Gave Up on Free Markets" by Thomas Philippon. To quote from the blurb:
In this much-anticipated book, a leading economist argues that many key problems of the American economy are due not to the flaws of capitalism or the inevitabilities of globalization but to the concentration of corporate power. By lobbying against competition, the biggest firms drive profits higher while depressing wages and limiting opportunities for investment, innovation, and growth.
Why are cell-phone plans so much more expensive in the United States than in Europe? It seems a simple question. But the search for an answer took Thomas Philippon on an unexpected journey through some of the most complex and hotly debated issues in modern economics. Ultimately he reached his surprising conclusion: American markets, once a model for the world, are giving up on healthy competition. Sector after economic sector is more concentrated than it was twenty years ago, dominated by fewer and bigger players who lobby politicians aggressively to protect and expand their profit margins. Across the country, this drives up prices while driving down investment, productivity, growth, and wages, resulting in more inequality. Meanwhile, Europe—long dismissed for competitive sclerosis and weak antitrust—is beating America at its own game.
Philippon, one of the world’s leading economists, did not expect these conclusions in the age of Silicon Valley start-ups and millennial millionaires. But the data from his cutting-edge research proved undeniable. In this compelling tale of economic detective work, we follow him as he works out the basic facts and consequences of industry concentration in the U.S. and Europe, shows how lobbying and campaign contributions have defanged antitrust regulators, and considers what all this means for free trade, technology, and innovation. For the sake of ordinary Americans, he concludes, government needs to return to what it once did best: keeping the playing field level for competition. It’s time to make American markets great—and free—again.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 02 2020, @11:23PM
Communism the best fascist government a gun can buy.
Capitalism the best feudal politicians a stack o cash can buy.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Friday January 03 2020, @12:04AM
Copyright and patent laws need to be re-evaluated.
It's hard to rev a free Enterprise economic engine if we have way too much force on the brakes.
We have the means to drop prices, same means used to drop labor price. Competition. No Congressman is going to pass law saying only one business in town can legally serve a beer.
But they will pass law saying only one business can manufacture a certain chemical.
Monopoly pricing ensues.
Fomented by laws. Passed by Congressmen.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]