BMJ  2005;331 (22 October), doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7522.0-d

Who is to blame for high prices of US drugs?

The United States government and the pharmaceutical industry have been blaming the high prices of drugs in the US on lower prices in other rich countries, which—they argue—don't pay their share of investment into research and development of new drugs. On page 958, Light and Lexchin challenge this foreign rip-off theory and present and discuss the evidence that disputes it. They say that the "free riding" argument is an economic artefact and suggest that the US cuts the prices of drugs rather than trying to force other rich countries to raise them.

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Relevant Article

Foreign free riders and the high price of US medicines

Donald W Light and Joel Lexchin
BMJ 2005 331: 958-960. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]