Big Pharma and their GOP cheerleaders will no doubt scream but it's the right thing to do. If health care costs are ever going to even stabilize (let alone fall) cost control has to be part of the program.
What would ultimately be the best direction would be to negotiate with Big Pharma on prices. How is it that the largest potential buyer in the world doesn't use that power to negotiate? It's standard capitalism. Maybe someone has heard of it before? Then again, maybe some people are looking for one of those lucrative jobs with Big Pharma at a later stage and hate to hurt their chances by getting tough.
Big pharmaceutical companies could face increased competition from generic drugmakers under two proposals put forth by the Obama administration on Monday despite earlier savings extracted from drugmakers as part of last year's healthcare law.
President Barack Obama, as part of his 2012 budget proposal, called for cutting the number of years drugmakers could exclusively market brand-name biologic drugs to 7 years from 12.
He also set his sights on ending controversial "pay-for-delay" deals that affect traditional, chemical drugs by giving the U.S. Federal Trade Commission power to block them. Under such pacts, brand-name and generic drugmakers settle patent challenges with payoffs that delay lower-cost rivals from reaching the market.
