Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Perspectives: Exposing The Secrets Of The Pharmaceutical Industry
The Wall Street Journal: Elizabeth Warren Tells The Truth: She Admits The Patent Vaccine Waiver Is About Stealing All Pharma IP
Progressives are promoting President Biden’s waiver of U.S. Covid vaccine patents as necessary to save lives. So full marks for candor to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who last week explained the real goal: set a precedent that erodes all pharmaceutical intellectual property protections in the U.S. and around the world. “Special [IP] protections for drug companies are an even bigger issue than COVID-19 alone,” the Massachusetts Senator said at a Senate Finance hearing with U.S. Trade Rep Katherine Tai on Wednesday. “I think it’s time now for our trade negotiators to take leadership and actively set rules that lower drug costs for American families.” What special protections? Drug makers receive less IP protection than other businesses under World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, which allow low-income countries to force drug makers to license patents during emergencies. But progressives believe IP protections shouldn’t exist at all for drugs and that their makers shouldn’t be rewarded for years of risky investment and innovation. (5/16)
Piscataquis Observer: Don’t Be Fooled By Big Pharma When It Comes To Lowering Drug Prices
Hardly six months have gone by since Election Day, but corporate interests are once again flooding our TV screens with misleading, negative political ads. This time it’s the pharmaceutical companies and their allies, who are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to warn you about a “socialist drug takeover” or American drugs “marching straight through Beijing.” In the ads, a dark and ominous voice tells you there’s a dangerous plan to seize the drug market and that you should call on me, your congressman in the 2nd District, to oppose it. (U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, 5/16)
The Gazette: Secretive Pharmacy Middlemen Drive Up Iowans’ Drug Costs
Iowa’s U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley again is turning his attention to exorbitant pharmaceutical prices. Grassley this year has filed a series of bipartisan bills meant to give Americans access to cheaper drugs. He’s calling special attention to an industry of secretive middlemen in the pharmacy business. Grassley and his fellow Republicans are firmly opposed to price-setting regulations, but they see a role for the federal government to play in ensuring transparency in the industry. Market forces are conspicuously absent in the health care industry, which conservative reformers say leads to higher prices and worse outcomes. (5/18)
