Posted on 12/23/2005 10:43:26 AM PST by JZelle
A federal judge yesterday struck down a new D.C. law that tied the cost of patented prescription drugs sold in the District to wholesale prices in foreign countries. The Prescription Drug Excessive Pricing Act of 2005 sought to permit civil sanctions against drug companies if patented drugs were sold for more than 30 percent above prices in Australia, Canada, Germany or the United Kingdom. U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon yesterday ruled in favor of two trade groups that sued the District in October to block the law. "Punishing the holders of pharmaceutical patents in this manner flies directly in the face of a system of rewards calculated by Congress to insure the continued strength of an industry vital to our national interests," Judge Leon said in a 28-page opinion. Judge Leon called the law a "well-intentioned" but "thinly veiled effort" to force drug makers to limit prices. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association (PhRMA) and the Biotechnology Industry Organization sued the District over the legislation in October. The legislation was approved unanimously by the D.C. Council and Mayor Anthony A. Williams, a Democrat. Council member David A. Catania, the at-large independent who sponsored the bill, could not be reached for comment yesterday. It was not clear whether the District plans to appeal Judge Leon's decision. Pharmaceutical industry officials praised the ruling.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
That's not the issue. The issue is that the law is a Consituttionally-impermissible "taking" under the Fifth Ammendment, since any legally-set maximum price at which something may be sold steals from the seller the difference between the market price and the one set by law.
I have an awful time understanding why a drug made in America costs more in America than it does in Canada.
No problem with this law...as long as the salaries and benefit pkgs. of city workers are the same as those in foreign countries. Haiti or Ethiopia, for example.
True. Now if we could just get a judge to use this to throw out Medicare's price controls that force doctors to accept government prices. If government wants to pay for senior healthcare (constitutionally dubious, but not likely to be overturned soon) they can say how much they're willing to pay, but not what doctors and hospitals can charge. Patients should be responsible for the difference and the market will see to it that prices don't get "too" high. As a group most seniors are well off, for those who really are on limited incomes than put them on something akin to Medicaid for mandated discounts. But if their healthcare givers have to provide discounts than so should everyone else who deals with those deserving poor. Mandate discounts on food, energy, rent, clothing, transportation, communications, not to mention government. Discount their property taxes, sales taxes, whatever income taxes they pay, even their cigarette taxes.
Because monopolistic governmental price fixing in Canada keeps Canadians from paying the R&D and regulatory costs of developing the drugs.
If this hadn't been struck down, if I were a drug company I'd have removed my products from the D.C. market.
I think it's something like the Canadian government is the actual purchaser and gets a volume discount.
What else might this judge do on drugs, I wonder?
Cloning an engineered product is always cheaper than being the OEM of the engineered product. Why? Because the fully amortized cost [which includes the cost to; 1) develop the product itself, 2) cost to get the product approved for its use, and 3) develop the market for the products use] of product will always be more expensive than just producing [cookie cutter style] another persons product.
Honestly, it's not really that hard to comprehend - if you really want to.
They wanted the drug prices to pass a global test.
Just a sarcastic Kerry reference.
Why dont the drug companies refuse to sell their drugs in Canada if they wont pay the price?
At last, something sensible today.
You are saying that Canada is stealing the R&D and cloning the drugs? Isnt that against International law?
It's the same reason that an item may have one price in a suburban Wal-Mart and a different price downtown. Prices reflect the realities of the market. If customers in Canada won't pay the same price for a prescription as a customer in America, the manufacturer must choose to sell it there for less or not sell it there at all.
NO, what I am implying is that the canucks are "probably" paying less in royalties to the OEM then the OEM is having to absorb in their fully loaded [amortized] production & distribution costs.
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