In the News
Encourage Drug Research Over Profiteering
Neera Tanden and Maura Calsyn write about how to foster drug research while discouraging profiteering.
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Government Affairs
Last year pharmaceutical costs grew 13.6 percent – faster than any other part of the health care industry – and pharmaceutical company profits were nearly 20 percent in 2012, double the average profit margin for the S&P 500. That explains why almost 75 percent of Americans still believe drug prices are unreasonable.
It’s no wonder, when this week one drug company announced a plan to increase by over 4,000 percent the price of a 62-year-old drug on the World Health Organization’s list of essential medicines. This isn’t the first time a drug company has shocked the public with astronomical prices. But it can’t continue.
The above excerpt was originally published in The New York Times. Click here to view the full article.
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Authors
Neera Tanden
President and CEO of the Center for American Progress
Maura Calsyn
Former Vice President and Coordinator, Health Policy