However, Robert Freeman, PhD, a professor of pharmacy administration at the Princess Anne-based University of Maryland Eastern Shore, says this general consensus is incorrect.
“This notion that drug prices are out of control is widely held but factually incorrect,” Dr. Freeman wrote in an op-ed for The Hill. “Americans spend roughly the same amount on drugs, as a share of total healthcare costs, as they have for decades.”
He believes proposed drug pricing measures — such as imposing mandatory rebates in Medicare’s drug program — would hinder current and future drug research efforts, depriving patients of innovative, potentially life-saving treatments.
“Attempts to lower prices through regulation and importation could snuff out research investments that could save millions of lives in the coming years,” Dr. Freeman wrote.
He said federal intervention is not needed, as the drug industry is already developing methods to lower costs, such as value-based drug pricing agreements between drugmakers and insurers.
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