Opinion: Booker-Sanders-Harris drug affordability bureau could be brilliant
In response to growing bipartisan outrage over prescription drug prices, Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Kamala Harris (D-Cal.) introduced a bill on Friday proposing the creation of a new federal agency: the Bureau of Prescription Drug Affordability and Access.
Under the bill’s current stipulations, when a new drug enters the market, this new bureau would weigh the costs of its research and development against the costs of comparable therapies and any federal money that contributed to its discovery to determine an appropriate list price.
It should go without saying that allowing the government to engage in price-setting for America’s most innovative industry would decimate the early-stage biotech ecosystem that allows us to lead the world in biomedical
