The U.S. government should use its heft to negotiate lower prescription drug prices, according to a group of independent experts who advise the nation on science and medicine.
Congress should authorize the government to use its purchasing power to get better deals on drugs it buys through Medicare, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine said in a report Thursday. The group also suggested the U.S. discourage direct-to-consumer ads for prescription medications.
“Monitoring will be needed, but taking these steps should bring down the cost of prescription drugs while still enabling the continuing development of new drugs,” the advisers said in the 189-page report, called “Making Medicines Affordable: A National Imperative."
The report will likely add fuel to a recurring debate in the U.S., where unlike most of the rest of the world the government doesn’t directly regulate medicine prices and is prohibited from negotiating prices in the Medicare drug-benefit program for the elderly. Pharmaceutical lobbies have strongly resisted changes over the years. President Donald Trump threatened to force bidding wars early in his presidency, but hasn’t taken any action so far.
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