In a new paper, Stephen Salant, a professor at the University of Michigan, makes a compelling case that people in the US should be able to import drugs from abroad and that it is safe to do so.
Salant explains that people in the US spend much more than people in other wealthy countries for the identical brand-name drugs. Drug prices are lower in other wealthy countries because their governments negotiate with drug manufacturers. The lower prices abroad are still a lot higher than the cost of producing the drugs. And, drug manufacturers invest millions to sway Americans to believe that it’s unsafe to import drugs from abroad.
We typically pay three and a half times more for a brand-name drug than people in other countries. Most other wealthy countries use price controls to keep prescription drug prices down. They either value a drug based on its cost-effectiveness. Or, they use reference pricing to bring drug prices down.
Other countries still pay prices than can be as much as 100 times more than the cost of producing drugs. Western Europeans pay a minimum of $40,000 for a 12-week course of Sovaldi to treat hepatitis C. But, Sovaldi costs its manufacturer $68-$136 to produce that course of treatment.
At the same time, Pharma relies on non-profit shill groups to argue that imported drugs could be counterfeit and unsafe and sway public opinion. Consumer protection is a pretext, an argument to keep drug prices high and generate enormous profits for drug companies. Pharma hired former FBI Director Louis Freeh’s firm to say that importing drugs would “open a new, unregulated pipeline into the United States.” But, at the time, 16 states simply were proposing to import drugs from highly regulated prescription drug markets abroad.
People can already buy drugs from abroad when they travel abroad, as well as online. And, big retail outlets like Amazon and Costco theoretically could bulk purchase drugs from abroad safely and sell directly to people in the US. All the evidence suggests that these drugs are as safe as drugs people buy in the US.
Here’s the truth: “The FDA has never reported a death or adverse reaction suffered by any patient in the U.S. who has personally filled his valid prescription online or in person from a pharmacy licensed in another high-income country.” The government has never prosecuted people in the US for importing drugs for personal use, even though it is illegal. But, the government does take action against companies that try to buy drugs abroad for resale in the US.
“Asking sick people to finance drug innovation, which is of value not only at home but abroad, is ethically indefensible,” argues Salant. “The burden falls heaviest on sick Americans since our prices are by far the highest. People currently in good health should shoulder more of the burden. Increased subsidization, financed by general taxes at home and abroad is, in my view, a step in the right direction.”
Here’s more from Just Care:
- Medicare pays more than twice as much as the VA for drugs
- Six tips for keeping your drug costs down if you have Medicare
- Insurers promote Humira over lower cost alternatives
- Millions safely import low-cost drugs from abroad
- Online pharmacies can save you money
- GAO finds US drug prices more than four times those in France
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