Kayla Briceno

I. The prescription for exorbitant drug prices in America is controlling costs of drugs

through establishing a value-based pricing system, preventing patent abuse, and

promoting generic competition on the federal government level.

II. Active deception within the pharmaceutical industry and loose regulation from the

federal government are responsible for the punitive prices of prescription drugs. The

current health care system in the United States is deficient.

A. “​A lack of transparency has created a system in which drugmakers, middlemen called

pharmacy benefit managers and health care providers all benefit from increasing

prices”(Bauer).

B. “...increases in health care costs...have made our employment-based system increasingly

less viable”(Jost 574).

C. “We need legislation to prevent lawsuits that are filed by manufacturers to delay

biosimilar entry into the market”(Rajkumar).

D. “We need to reform the patent system to prevent overpatenting and patent

abuse”(Rajkumar).

III. The cost of drugs should be determined by their overall benefit to patient health.

A. A problem with this, though, is that some may be willing to pay a lot of money for

effective drugs, and with that willingness, drug manufacturers will demand high rates for

medications (Frakt).

B. Another problem is that there is a lot of gray area within classifying drugs as valuable

since that word has different meanings among different audiences.

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IV. Other countries find success in offering equitable drug costs through a value based

pricing system, in which authorized panels negotiate target prices for the drugs based on

quality.

A. In Norway, the government controls drug pricing by reviewing patient data to determine

the cost-effectiveness of new drugs (Whalen).

B. A federal agency in Canada sets maximum prices for drugs based on their value/benefits

and prices in other countries (Whalen).

V. Consumers in dire need of life dependent medications have the right to be informed on

alternative biosimilars that cost less and are of the same quality as high priced brand

name drugs.

VI. Multiple states have adopted some form of regulation through passing legislation that

protects consumers by educating them on low-cost biosimilars.

A. A proposed bill in Wisconsin will allow pharmacists to discuss with their patients

cheaper options for drugs with the same effectiveness as their costly counterparts

(Bauer).

B. “A number of states have attempted to address the particular problem of high drug costs

by forming purchasing pools or by encouraging generic drug substitution”(Jost 568).

VII. In order to crack down on high drug prices multiple actions must be taken by the federal

government to ensure that pharmaceutical industries no longer abuse their power, to

ensure that consumers are aware of cheaper biosimilars, and to ensure that the prices of

drugs are fair based on efficacy.

 Kayla Briceno

Bauer, Scott. “Wisconsin Assembly Targets Prescription Drug Prices.” ​U.S. News &

World Report,​ U.S. News & World Report, 18 Feb. 2020,

www.usnews.com/news/best-states/wisconsin/articles/2020-02-18/wisconsin-assembly-to

-vote-on-bill-targeting-drug-prices.

Frakt, Austin. “How to Cut U.S. Drug Prices: Experts Weigh In.” ​The New York

Times​, The New York Times, 10 Dec. 2018,

www.nytimes.com/2018/12/10/upshot/how-to-cut-drug-prices-experts-weigh-in.html.

Jost, Timothy Stoltzfus. “Our Broken Health Care System and How to Fix It: An

Essay on Health Law and Policy .” ​Wake Forest Law Review​, vol. 41, no. 2, 2006, pp.

537-618.,

heinonline.org/HOL/Page?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals%2Fwflr41&id=593

&men_tab=srchresults.

Former Robert L. Willett Family Professor of Law at Washington and Lee University School of

Law, Timothy Stoltzfus Jost, claims that the current quality of the health care system in America

is gravely deficient. Jost associates the poor state of America’s health care system with the

broken employment-based system that is no longer viable due to the rising health care costs. This

journal provides an exemplary use of counterarguments from a wide range of audiences. By

addressing these opposing viewpoints or potential discrepancies surrounding the solutions I am

proposing within my paper, readers will acknowledge my credibility through ethos. This journal
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is unique in that it refers back to historical events that highlight the country’s economic standing

and certain legislation that was passed surrounding health care during different points throughout

America’s history. This will allow me to further evaluate what, why and how things went wrong

in order to strengthen my claims that propose solutions to those problems that emerged. Feasible

solutions made in this journal are relatively similar to ​Hagop Kantarjian MD and S. Vincent

Rajkumar MD​, established doctors who like Jost, emphasize the importance of bringing generic

drugs into the market as a substitution for high priced brand name drugs.

Rajkumar, Vincent. “The High Cost of Insulin in the United States: An Urgent Call to

Action.” ​Mayo Clinic Proceedings​, vol. 95, no. 1, Jan. 2020, pp. 22–28.,

www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(19)31008-0/fulltext#sec1.2.1.

Professor of Medicine under the Division of Hematology at Mayo Clinic, S Vincent V. Rajkumar

MD, asserts that reformations need to be made to the regulatory and legal system as well as the

patent system in order to assure that low priced generic drugs and biosimilars of high quality

make it into the market and that drug manufacturers do not abuse their patents. This source is

beneficial to my paper because it offers two tables that I can use as multimodal sources to appeal

to logic, as they present the reasons for the high cost of drugs, possible solutions on the federal

level, and solutions that physicians and institutions can implement. This journal does an

exceptional job on addressing root causes to the problem before developing practical solutions to

resolve each of the problems, not only on the federal level but on the institutional level as well.

The solutions elicited within this article mirror those made by Scott Bauer of the Associated

Press. Bauer provides that around 40 states are adopting methods of regulation by working
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towards passing bills that would force pharmacists to educate consumers on more affordable

substitutions for brand name drugs. Although the success of these efforts is unknown, both

articles indicate that bringing biosimilars into the market is an attainable solution.

Whalen, Jeanne. “Why the U.S. Pays More Than Other Countries for Drugs.” ​The

Wall Street Journal​, Dow Jones & Company, 2 Dec. 2015,

www.wsj.com/articles/why-the-u-s-pays-more-than-other-countries-for-drugs-144893948

1.

Jeanne Whalen, Deputy Bureau Chief of Health and Science for ​The Wall Street Journal,​

compares America’s broken health care system to more equitable and efficient health care

systems of other countries. Whalen primarily focuses on Norway’s value based system, in which

the country sets maximum prices on drugs based on their cost-effectiveness. Essentially, other

countries will influence drug companies to reduce drug prices in order to get their products

covered within their country. Similarly to Rajkumar’s article, Whalen provides myriad data

tables that compare market prices of drugs in America and other countries such as Norway,

England, and Canada. The statistics presented indicate that the same drugs are sold, only for

higher prices in the United States. These data charts will augment my rhetorical strategy of logos

throughout my paper. The views expressed by Whalen are symmetrical to those of Austin Frakt,

director of the Partnered Evidence-Based Policy Resource Center at the V.A. Boston Healthcare

System. Both Whalen and Frakt propose that the United States should follow the lead of other

countries in order to cut drug prices.

Kayla Briceno
Kayla Briceno