eagle1462010
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America Needs to Stop Subsidizing Europe and Canada’s Prescription Drugs | RealClearPolitics
The Europeans and Canadians (as well as the rest of the world) are free-riding on the back of American medical innovators. European countries and Canada – our trading allies – impede access and set artificially low prices for prescription medicines. If U.S. companies refuse to acquiesce on prices, these foreign governments threaten to steal their patents by using compulsory licensing. It’s that simple: Europe and Canada refuse to pay their fair share forcing Americans to pay more.
Americans pay the highest prices for prescription drugs in the world. In 2016, U.S. spending on pharmaceuticals totaled more than $450 billion – a rate that’s two to six times higher than the world average.
The reason boils down to “compulsory licensing.” As the World Trade Organization explains, this is when “a government allows someone else to produce a patented product or process without the consent of the patent owner or plans to use the patent-protected invention itself.” These foreign governments put U.S. biopharmaceutical companies in a proverbial “gun-to-the-head” situation – i.e., sell us the drugs at the bogus price we demand, or don’t and we’ll just take it.
The Europeans and Canadians (as well as the rest of the world) are free-riding on the back of American medical innovators. European countries and Canada – our trading allies – impede access and set artificially low prices for prescription medicines. If U.S. companies refuse to acquiesce on prices, these foreign governments threaten to steal their patents by using compulsory licensing. It’s that simple: Europe and Canada refuse to pay their fair share forcing Americans to pay more.
Americans pay the highest prices for prescription drugs in the world. In 2016, U.S. spending on pharmaceuticals totaled more than $450 billion – a rate that’s two to six times higher than the world average.
The reason boils down to “compulsory licensing.” As the World Trade Organization explains, this is when “a government allows someone else to produce a patented product or process without the consent of the patent owner or plans to use the patent-protected invention itself.” These foreign governments put U.S. biopharmaceutical companies in a proverbial “gun-to-the-head” situation – i.e., sell us the drugs at the bogus price we demand, or don’t and we’ll just take it.