Ted, forget the arguments over whether Canadian drugs are of lower quality, or whether the FDA regulations are artificially inflating the costs of developing a new drug. Most drugs manufactured in Canada (or otherwise outside of America) are generics anyway, which is a moot point, since generics are by definition "copycats," and they are freely available here in America anyway.
The issue here is the cost of new prescription drugs, i.e. those that haven't reached the "generic" stage yet. Almost all of these new drugs come from America, but they're also sold to Canada not because the companies want to give Canada a break (they don't), but because they can still make a marginal profit selling there, even with the Canadian price controls. (In effect, American profit dollars are subsidizing Canada's access to the latest-n-greatest drugs. This fact hasn't been lost on the pharmaceutical companies. Just watch.)
The Kerry proposal, if taken at face value, would in effect import Canada's price controls on all drugs sold here in America. If he truly wants price controls, it's better just to implement them here, but then the market ramifications would be enormous, and even Kerry won't go there. Better to just pander to the senior vote, then flip once in office.
Tenchusatsu |
