President Trump is expected soon to make his first major announcement on drug pricing. So far, the administration’s most significant actions to address rapidly climbing drug prices have come from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which has announced a series of steps to encourage competition as well as greater price transparency. In a new Commonwealth Fund brief, Waxman Strategies researchers say the FDA agenda has the potential to lower prescription drug prices. But the agency could make greater headway by using its authority to foster market competition and curb anticompetitive behaviors.
Read our recent tweetstorm on policy options that could get drug prices under control. These include: promoting “high-value” drugs that provide the most clinical benefit; increasing competition among drugmakers; and cracking down on the misuse of patent protections to block generics. And join the conversation by using the hashtag #DrugSpendingSolutions.