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

• The problem for public coverage is to maintain the tempo of medical innovation whereas making certain that precious new applied sciences stay reasonably priced and accessible.
• The U.S. is by far the biggest marketplace for prescription drugs on the earth and the engine of world pharmaceutical innovation. Different international locations, in impact, free experience off the innovation stimulated by the American market.
• Regardless of secure 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 value controls aren’t the answer to the worsening affordability of pharmaceuticals or to international free-riding: Schaeffer Heart analysis means that introducing European-style pricing insurance policies would cut back Individuals’ 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 value transparency, coupled with higher details about worth,
  can assist payers and customers spend their cash correctly.
• 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, filled with hyperlinks to attention-grabbing articles.