Posted by Michael Wonder on 12 Jul 2017
Targeting unconscionable prescription-drug prices — Maryland’s anti–price-gouging law
12 July 2017 - Why, in the early 21st century, are so many drugs that were cheaply available in the 20th century becoming prohibitively expensive?
The past few years have seen a series of dramatic price hikes on essential off-patent medications, from albendazole to albuterol, digoxin to naloxone, Daraprim to EpiPen. In the storm of allegations and indignation that has followed each of these revelations, one explanation has remained consistent. To paraphrase Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO), who were the chair and the ranking member of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, firms that corner the market on off-patent medications and raise prices wildly often do so simply because they can.
When the committee issued a 130 page report last December documenting the parallel strategies used by firms to engage in monopolistic price gouging on older essential drugs, the senators pointed out that these actions, though arguably unethical, have so far not been found to be illegal.
