The excessive profiteering of the pharmaceutical industry is based on the misconception that high costs are necessary to generate the revenue that pushes forward R&D and by extension, innovation. However, these high costs are a function not of innovation, but of a broken marketplace with no competition or negotiation.
Read MoreIn this piece, Professor Carrier explains why legislation addressing product hopping is the best option to address this anticompetitive behavior. He focuses on the Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act of 2021, bipartisan legislation that addresses the harms from product hopping while appropriately deferring to any reasonable justifications the drug company could offer. He explains how the legislation is conservative in several ways and addresses the industry’s argument that product-hopping legislation harms innovation. And he concludes that legislation can play a crucial role in ensuring that consumers have access to affordable generic medicines.
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