(RepublicanJournal.org) – Drug prices have been the subject of fierce controversy for many years now. Those on the Left complain large drug companies generate too much profit from their operations, making it impossible for consumers to access affordable treatments. However, figures on the Right point out that government interference in the pricing of pharmaceuticals would stifle innovation in the industry and end up making things worse for Americans.
Conservative media figure Newt Gingrich criticized Democrats for failing to acknowledge the latter point in an editorial published on Fox on Sunday, November 28.
The Democrats like to present themselves as the party of science, but two recent drug price plan announcements show just how ignorant they are about how science moves from the lab to our medicine cabinet. w/ @joedesantishttps://t.co/CcbzIvnkdE
— Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) November 29, 2021
Criticizing the Democrats for failing to look at the science of the situation, Gingrich noted the party was currently backing a measure that would grant Medicare the power to decide what prices it wants to pay pharma companies for drugs. He pointed out that it takes $2 billion to get a drug from conception to pharmacy shelves, adding that no investor would risk their capital on such a project unless prices were high enough to allow for a good return.
Gingrich continued by alleging the Democrats’ plan would negatively affect the market for generic and biosimilar drugs, which are, he claimed, a more effective way to keep prices low on medicines for which exclusivity periods have elapsed.
So, should the government stop trying to control drug prices, or is some form of intervention necessary?
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