Is it ethical to raise drug prices in a crisis?
Among the drug industry’s most reliable business moves is the twice-a-year price increase, which makes hundreds of medicines that much more expensive every winter and summer. But in 2020, with staggering unemployment and a global pandemic putting people in danger, one group is imploring pharma to take the season off.
The Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing, a group funded by insurers, providers, and doctors groups, has circulated a petition demanding that drug companies forgo mid-year price increases. You may recall Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing, or CSRxP, from its 2017 ad campaign for a made-up drug called “PriceGougi$ol,” whose potential side effects included “overdrawn bank accounts, bad credit scores, higher health care costs,” and “children who don’t get Christmas presents.”
Whether this will actually change company behavior remains to be seen. But there’s something of a precedent. Back in summer 2018, after President Trump tweeted that Pfizer “should be ashamed that they have raised drug prices for no reason,” the company rolled back its latest price increases, and other drug makers followed suit. Everything returned to normal six months later, but it worked at least that once.
The Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing, a group funded by insurers, providers, and doctors groups, has circulated a petition demanding that drug companies forgo mid-year price increases. You may recall Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing, or CSRxP, from its 2017 ad campaign for a made-up drug called “PriceGougi$ol,” whose potential side effects included “overdrawn bank accounts, bad credit scores, higher health care costs,” and “children who don’t get Christmas presents.”
Whether this will actually change company behavior remains to be seen. But there’s something of a precedent. Back in summer 2018, after President Trump tweeted that Pfizer “should be ashamed that they have raised drug prices for no reason,” the company rolled back its latest price increases, and other drug makers followed suit. Everything returned to normal six months later, but it worked at least that once.
.png)
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario