Over the past few weeks, we have watched as announcement after announcement has come out of American healthcare companies with big news!
Just to name a few:
Pfizer is saying they have a promising candidate for a COVID vaccine
Eli Lilly now has a working antibody treatment.
Moderna is also saying they have a working COVID vaccine.
And that was just in one week!
It's amazing when you really stop and think just how innovative America can be! As a country, we are able to do so much when we let the free market play out as it is.
That's why when word came out that the US Department of Health & Human Services was looking at pushing for a Most Favored Nation (MFN) drug pricing model again, we shuttered.
Just for a refresher, let's go over what the MFN model is:
The “most-favored-nation price” means the lowest price, after adjusting for volume and differences in national gross domestic product (GDP), for a pharmaceutical product that the manufacturer sells in any member country of the OECD that has a comparable per-capita GDP. - Source: www.PolicyMed.com
This effectively takes all the incentive of new drug production out of the picture. It's simple - the profit motive is what drives risk-taking, investing in new drugs, and trying new things. The chance of being able to profit off a big discovery is what makes all the research and development attractive (from a business standpoint) to companies.
In addition, it's the earnings retained after a big drug discovery that ends up funding the research that leads to further advancements!
In short, the entire system depends on a free market. That's exactly why we need to encourage this administration to oppose MFN!
Implementing this system is the wrong direction for America! We need to preserve innovation in medicine and oppose the Most Favored Nation plan!