Testimony: Origins of and Solutions to High Drug Prices in the US

Kesselheim outlines how high US drug prices stem from government-granted patents and exclusivities that allow manufacturers to charge whatever the market will bear, combined with legal restrictions such as Medicare’s non-interference clause that prevent payors from negotiating effectively. He recommends allowing Medicare to create a program-wide formulary and negotiate prices, reforming patent policy to curb patent thickets, and passing the CREATES Act, arguing these changes would not harm innovation because much transformative drug discovery originates in publicly funded research. Watch his testimony.