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Saturday, Nov. 14, 2020

Are pharmaceutical prices in the US three to four times higher than in other developed countries?

Seth Smalley, Gigafact
yes

Most other countries regulate drug prices; the U.S. doesn't. The U.S. spends the most money per capita on pharmaceuticals. According to a 2019 congressional study, in most other developed countries drug prices average around 24% to 30% of the U.S. level. U.S. sales ($376 billion in 2017) account for 33% of global pharmaceutical revenues.

The study reported that American prescription prices on average are four times those in Switzerland, which has greater per-capital wealth than the U.S. GlaxoSmithKline plc sells Advair Diskus, a pulmonary-disease drug, for about 13 times more in the U.S. than the average international price. Merck & Co. sells Dulera, which treats asthma, for an average of 50 times more in America than elsewhere.

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