29 July 2019 - The pricing of prescription drugs is a source of current public consternation in the US. 

Several new policy proposals suggest the use of various forms of federal negotiations to target the high prices of drugs, including ones that do so using the indirect mechanism of pegging Medicare Part B covered drug prices to international benchmarks or more direct mechanisms entailing binding arbitration between drug companies and the US government.

One recent proposal, the Medicare Negotiation and Competitive Licensing Act of 2018, would give Medicare the right to negotiate directly with manufacturers for prices of both small molecules and biologic drugs covered by Medicare’s pharmacy benefit (Part D).

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