PhRMA, PhRMA, PhRMA. Why do you do it?

I’m talking about the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, an industry association that seems hell-bent on strangling its members. Earlier this year, it was a “voluntary” ban on tchotchkes, Post-It pads, and other gifts to doctors (except those with a purely medically educational purpose), enacted in fear of stricter constraints should such gift bans have been imposed by the federal government (as some states have already done). PhRMA should have stood up proudly for its members’ rights to market their drugs as they please; instead, the organization took the route of appeasement. The result is that pharmaceutical companies are even more hampered in their communication than they were before — and watchdog groups and regulators are still calling for government bans.

PhRMA’s latest is far worse. It’s now advocating for an expansion of Medicaid, in the hopes that if more people have insurance, more people will buy its members’ drugs. This is incredibly short-sighted. If PhRMA gets its wish, demand for pharmaceuticals will indeed go up — and it won’t be long before politicians are calling for price controls when the bills get too big to pay. The damage to the industry that would result is far worse than the temporary swell in profits PhRMA’s members would see at the beginning of an expanded Medicaid.

PhRMA needs to wake up and realize that the best thing for its members is to compete in a fully free market — free of regulators and free of bureaucrat buyers who want to set the prices for the drugs Americans take.

reasonpharm.blogspot.com