[merrylander]

Originally Posted by whell

That's only half the story.

The pharmaceutical industry says controls such as those seen in Europe discourage investment in research and deny patients access to some drugs. “The U.S. has a competitive biopharmaceutical marketplace that works to control costs while encouraging the development of new treatments and cures,” said Lori Reilly, an executive at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, a trade association.

If U.S. pricing fell to European levels, the industry would almost certainly cut its R&D spending, said Mr. Evans, the health-care analyst. “Does the U.S. subsidize global research? Absolutely, yes,” he said.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/why-the-...ugs-1448939481

So, in very twisted way, the US consumer is exclusively funding advances in drug therapies for the rest of the word. If the US adopted the European model, we'd have cheaper drugs but advances in drug therapy would slow to a crawl.

Now, that's not a vote in favor of the current system of pricing, but the global playing field is tilted against the US consumer.

Complete and utter bull shit. The sole reason all those foreign pharmaceutical companies maintain a U.S. presence is so they have access to all the research done by NIH and our universities. The only new drugs they have come up with are Vi@gra,Ci@lis and Levitor.