Posted by Michael Wonder on 22 Jun 2019
Azar's plan to tie U.S. drug prices to foreign ones will impact investments in R&D
21 June 2019 - Americans, be they Republicans or Democrats, are outraged by the rising cost of prescription drugs.
People become even more incensed when they hear that the U.S. prices for medicines are higher than in Europe and Japan, countries where the government controls the drug prices.
Many feel that Americans are bearing the brunt of the costs of discovering and developing new medicines.
Enter Alex M. Azar II, a former executive at drug giant, Eli Lilly, and now Donald Trump’s Secretary of Health and Human Services. At the Brookings Institute last fall, Azar made news by proposing changes which would enable the government to reduce payments for the 27 highest-cost physician-administered drugs – drugs that are part of the Medicare Part B program.
