That’s the subject of a U.S. Senate listening to final week. One particular person testifying was an economist, USC Professor Darius Lakdawalla. Whereas his full testimony is right here, his key factors of competition are value studying. These embrace:

• The problem for public coverage is to maintain the tempo of medical innovation whereas guaranteeing that worthwhile new applied sciences stay inexpensive and accessible.
• The U.S. is by far the biggest marketplace for prescription drugs on this planet and the engine of worldwide pharmaceutical innovation. Different international locations, in impact, free trip off the innovation stimulated by the American market.
• Regardless of steady or falling internet costs paid to prescription drug producers over the previous decade novel medicines lie more and more past the monetary attain of American sufferers.
• Blunt worth controls are usually not the answer to the worsening affordability of pharmaceuticals or to world free-riding: Schaeffer Middle analysis means that introducing European-style pricing insurance policies would cut back People’ life expectancy.
• As an alternative, aligning drug costs with the precise worth supplied to sufferers stimulates innovation that advantages sufferers and discourages innovation that doesn’t.
• Laws to extend drug worth transparency, coupled with higher details about worth,
  might help payers and customers spend their cash properly.
• Inexpensive and beneficiant insurance coverage for pharmaceuticals ensures that medication stay throughout the
  monetary attain of American households.

You’ll be able to learn the complete testimony right here, stuffed with hyperlinks to fascinating articles.