Inflation Reduction Act and Pharmaceuticals
 | Author:
Victor Sample
Vic Sample: MT43 News Treasurer |
Inflation Reduction Act and Pharmaceuticals Victor Sample The power industry and the landline telephone industry have long been regulated because they are so important to businesses and people. Even the insurance industry is regulated, but the large pharmaceutical companies have avoided regulation even though the drugs they produce (at least some of them) are critical to people with health problems. It's been long known that the very same drugs that we buy here can be obtained in Canada, Mexico and Europe for a fraction of the price with laws prohibiting importing of the drugs at lower prices.
In 2015, Martin Shkreli, former CEO of Retrophin and Turing Pharmaceuticals raised the price of an anti-parasitic drug by 5455% raising the price from $13.50 to $750 PER PILL. Schkreli said the price was raised because they could raise the price. Martin Shkreli was later sentenced to prison, not because of the drug pricing, but because he was convicted of securities fraud.
Nostrum Laboratories quadrupled the price of their urinary tract infection drug from $500 a bottle to $2392 a bottle. Nirmal Mulye defended Martin Shkreli’s actions stating “I think it is a MORAL REQUIREMENT to make money when you can”.
In this issue of the MT43 News, we have published an article produced by the Senior Medicare Patrol about measures in the Inflation Reduction Act passed by Congress and signed by President Biden earlier this year. The act included several provisions limiting the drug companies' ability to unjustifiably raise the price of the drugs they produce.
Of course, there were many other provisions in the Act other than some rather small measures reigning in the uncontrolled pricing of the pharmaceutical companies and we always have to be aware of the “unintended consequences” of any Congressional bill. But, it is time that Congress finally started to act on behalf of the people of the United States of America and not for the Pharmaceutical companies.
