Last summer, Congress\u2002passed overdue drug pricing reforms\u00a0to help older adults afford their medications by empowering Medicare\u00a0to negotiate some\u00a0drug prices, limit drug corporation price spikes and cap out-of-pocket costs.
\nThough a step forward, it was not nearly enough\u00a0to quell rising outrage\u00a0over astronomical drug prices, and it did nothing for the\u00a0more than 200 million Americans\u00a0who are not on Medicare.
\nNegotiated prices will\u00a0not take effect\u2002until 2026, and it will remain illegal for Medicare\u00a0to negotiate the price\u2002of the vast majority of drugs. To provide immediate and expansive relief for all patients, not just those who rely on Medicare, President Joe Biden should use his existing authority to rein in pharmaceutical monopolies.
\nPrices for lifesaving treatments for everything from diabetes to cancer have been steadily rising in the United States, even as other countries\u2002pay a fraction\u00a0for the medicines we do.
\nFrom July 2021 to July 2022, pharmaceutical companies\u2002increased prices\u00a0by an average of 31.6% on more than 1,200 drugs \u2014 well above the rate of inflation, according to one report from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). And this month, drug makers\u00a0are expected to raise\u00a0prices on more than 350 drugs.
\nThe President already has the authority he needs to bring down prescription drug prices, but so far, he hasn\u2019t acted on requests from patients, advocates and members of Congress to take on monopoly pricing. He has hesitated to use the\u2002two key powers\u2002at the administration\u2019s disposal to address the crisis of unaffordable medicines.
\nThese tools include the government\u2019s\u2002power to issue licenses\u2002waiving patents so generic competitors can enter the market early in exchange for reasonable compensation to the patent holder. The federal government\u00a0used this law repeatedly\u00a0in the 1960s to buy low-cost generic versions of patented drugs and still routinely uses this authority for other technologies, such as night vision goggles and electronic passports.
\nThe second tool that the President could use is related to\u2002taxpayer-funded inventions. For drugs invented with taxpayer dollars, the government has the right to authorize generic competitors to use the patents to ensure the pharmaceuticals are \u201cavailable to the public\u00a0on reasonable terms.\u201d
\nThere\u2019s nothing reasonable about today\u2019s high drug prices. About 1 in 4 Americans taking prescriptions say it\u2019s hard to afford their medications, a\u00a02019 Kaiser Family Foundation Health Tracking Poll\u00a0found, and a new study\u2002reveals\u00a0that more than 1.3 million Americans with diabetes are delaying buying, skipping or rationing their insulin due to cost.
\nUnfortunately, the new federal law does not lower insulin prices and only caps monthly copays of insulin for Medicare beneficiaries, despite patients without insurance and with private insurance\u00a0rationing insulin\u2002at higher rates. Further, copay caps without corresponding price reductions\u00a0could lead\u00a0to health insurance premium increases.
\nEven more outrageous, Americans pay\u2002more than two and a half times\u00a0as much for prescription drugs than people in other countries do, according to a 2021 Rand Corp. report. For the 20 top-selling drugs, pharmaceutical corporations\u00a0made more money in the US\u00a0than in every other country in the world combined, according to a Public Citizen analysis. Other countries\u2002have meaningful price negotiation\u00a0that not only lowers drug prices compared to what Americans pay, but also often incentivizes better innovation.
\nLast year, cancer survivors\u2002petitioned\u00a0HHS to use its executive authority to reduce the cost of outrageously-priced prostate cancer treatment Xtandi, which is used to treat three common form of the cancer. In\u00a0a recent letter\u2002to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, they noted that 33,000 men have died of prostate cancer since their petition has gone unanswered.
\nXtandi\u00a0was developed\u00a0with US taxpayer funds, yet it\u00a0costs about $190,000\u2002a year for American patients, as much as\u00a0six times higher\u00a0than as in other large, wealthy countries, according to Knowledge Ecology International, a nonprofit that focuses on intellectual property in medicine. Advocacy groups and\u2002100 members of Congress\u00a0have urged HHS to grant a hearing on the Xtandi petition.<\/p>\n