Drug costs are lower in other countries because they impose price controls, so importation amounts to imposing price controls in the United States.
Foreign countries contribute little or nothing to the huge costs of researching new drugs — estimated to be $800 million per product — and they produce few medical breakthroughs. Price controls would slow down medical progress here, too.
Good ol' Morton, gets right to the heart of the matter. Problem is, people opposing importation haven't been talking about that, they've been making mostly specious arguments about safety, or lack thereof. They seem to think the average American won't understand that the lower prices abroad are a form of IP theft. They actually undercut their position by making easily-disputed safety claims about drugs from the Great White North.
As the US has moved up the economic ladder, an increasing share of our GDP comes in the form of IP, be it books, software, music, films, medical research, or other inventions. If we don't protect it from theft, we place an important element of our own livelihood at risk. I wonder what our trade deficit with China would be if IP piracy were to be eliminated there? |
