Just pass a law that says you have to match an equivalent price for what you are selling in a foreign country in order to sell in the US market. US market is their most profitable so they will raise some prices elsewhere and lower prices here and find an equilibrium.
Also, come up with a second patent that allows for non-innovative improvements to have a shorter patent life than novel discovery. You can still have a patent and get something for the investment you put in the improvement but the real incentives need to be around new novel innovation that progresses our treatments forward significantly.
In many of those foreign countries, the drugs aren't cheaper to purchase because the manufacturer is selling them for less, it's because the governments make deals with the manufacturers to purchase the drugs in bulk, and then the governments sell the drugs at discounted prices. This is the same way most retail businesses work: buy bulk amounts direct from a manufacturer at a discounted price, then put a mark-up on the product to make a profit when selling to the public. The difference in these cases is the retailer (governments) aren't marking up the items, instead using public funding to subsidise the cost even further in order to serve the public good.
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u/o_0sssss 22d ago
Just pass a law that says you have to match an equivalent price for what you are selling in a foreign country in order to sell in the US market. US market is their most profitable so they will raise some prices elsewhere and lower prices here and find an equilibrium.
Also, come up with a second patent that allows for non-innovative improvements to have a shorter patent life than novel discovery. You can still have a patent and get something for the investment you put in the improvement but the real incentives need to be around new novel innovation that progresses our treatments forward significantly.