Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., and front-running Democrat candidate in the 2020 presidential election, has outlined his plans to lower drug costs if he were to be elected.
Many of his policies are unfavorable to the pharmaceutical industry and would involve dramatic changes.
"It’s up to the industry whether this is going to have to be a war or not," Mr. Buttigieg told STAT.
Six policies included in Mr. Buttigieg's plan, according to STAT:
- Similar to Nancy Pelosi's bill, his plan would allow the HHS secretary to negotiate lower drug prices and penalize drugmakers who raise prices too high and refuse to negotiate.
- A drug company that refuses to negotiate with the HHS secretary would face a tax starting at 65 percent and going as high as 95 percent.
- The plan embraces a strategy called "march-in rights," which would allow the government to approve generic drugs even when a brand-name drugmaker still has a valid patent.
- Generic and biosimilar drugs would be placed on the lowest insurance formulary tiers.
- Senior citizens' out-of-pocket costs would be capped at $200 per month and $2,400 annually.
- Mr. Buttigieg has also mentioned cracking down on pay-for-delay patent settlements that allow brand-name drugmakers to pay generic drugmakers to delay bringing their drug to the market so the brand-name maker doesn't have to face competition and lower its prices.
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