Price Controls Will Not Help Patients

Trump’s ‘most favored nation’ policy will diminish the drug innovation that truly helps people.

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Safeway Pharmacy in Great Falls, Va., in 2009.

Hyungwon Kang/Reuters

During the State of the Union address, President Trump said, “I took prescription drugs . . . from the highest price in the world to the lowest.” While Trump is trying to address patients’ frustration with high drug prices (indeed, he has recently secured some discounts through direct bargaining with drug companies), he has enacted a policy that will ultimately cause patients to suffer.

Announced last May, Trump’s “most favored nation” drug policy (MFN) will make the biggest companies, often known as “Big Pharma,” even bigger by putting smaller companies at a disadvantage. That will mean less drug innovation, as smaller companies are responsible for the lion’s share of new drugs.

DH

About the Author

David Hogberg

David Hogberg is a writer living in Washington, D.C. Sign up for his Substack, Beyond Stage One, where he applies the thinking of Thomas Sowell to current issues.

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