Memo To The President: The Pharmaceutical Monopoly Adjustment Act Of 2017

Memo To The President: The Pharmaceutical Monopoly Adjustment Act Of 2017

Memo To The President: The Pharmaceutical Monopoly Adjustment Act Of 2017
Alfred Engelberg
September 13, 2016
Since 1980, Congress has enacted many laws granting pharmaceutical manufacturers monopolies that no other industry enjoys. These extra monopolies were created with the expectation that monopoly profits would spur greater investment in research to find important new drugs. In fact, they have caused US consumers to pay higher prices for medicines for longer periods of time while making the pharmaceutical industry far more profitable than any other industry. I believe the next president and Congress should take several key steps, which I outline below, to roll back these costly, unnecessary monopolies.