Why Are Prescription Drugs SO Expensive?

PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to http://to.pbs.org/DonateORIG
↓ More info and sources below ↓

Join us on Patreon!   / originofeverything  

Why are prescription drugs so expensive in the United States? Why does the same medication cost significantly less in other countries around the world? Today Danielle examines the history of pharmaceutical regulation in America and how it lead to such disproportionately high costs.

Created and Hosted by Danielle Bainbridge
Produced by Complexly for PBS Digital Studios
#medicare #FDA #pharmaceuticals
---
Follow us on...
Facebook:   / originofeverythingpbs  
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pbsoriginof...
---
Origin of Everything is a show about the undertold histories and cultural dialogues that make up our collective story. From the food we eat, to the trivia and fun facts we can’t seem to get out of our heads, to the social issues we can’t stop debating, everything around us has a history. Origin of Everything is here to explore it all. We like to think that no topic is too small or too challenging to get started.

Works Cited:

98th Congress (1983-1984). “S.1538 - An act to amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to revise the procedures for new drug applications, to amend title 35, United States Code, to authorize the extension of the patents for certain regulated products, and for other purposes.: 09/24/1984 Became Public Law No: 98-417. https://www.congress.gov/bill/98th-co.... Accessed May 19, 2019.

Barr, Donald A. Introduction to U.S. Health Policy: The Organization, Financing, and Delivery of Health Care in America. Benjamin Cummings, Pearson Education: 2002.

The Canadian Online Prescription Guide.com. http://www.canadian-online-prescripti.... Accessed May 24, 2019.

Frakt, Austin. “Something Happened to US Drug Costs in the 1990s.” The New York Times. Nov. 12, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/12/up.... Accessed May 19, 2019.

Good Rx. https://www.goodrx.com/humira. Accessed May 24, 2019.

Kesselheim, Aaron S. Et. Al. “The High Cost of Prescription Drugs in the United States: Origins and Prospects for Reform.” Journal of the American Medical Association. August 23/30, 2016. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama.... Accessed May 19, 2019.

Morgan, Steven. “What’s Driving Prescription Drug Prices in the U.S.?” Commonwealth Fund, Nov. 14, 2018. https://doi.org/10.26099/sh3e-ac41. Accessed May 19, 2019.

Morgan, Steven G., et. al. “An analysis of expenditures on primary care prescription drugs in the United States versus ten comparable countries.” Health Policy, Volume 122, Issue 9, September 2018. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science.... Accessed May 19, 2019.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration. “A History of the FDA and Drug Regulation in the United States.” https://www.fda.gov/media/73549/download. Accessed May 19, 2019.

Irene Papanicolas, et. al. “Health Care Spending in the United States and Other High Income Countries.” Journal of the American Medical Association. March 13, 2018. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama.... Accessed May 19, 2019.

O’Neill, Phill and Jon Sussex. “International Comparison of Medicines Usage: Quantitative Analysis.” Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, 2014. https://www.lif.se/contentassets/a003.... Accessed May 19, 2019.

Pew Trusts. “A Look at Drug Spending in the U.S. Estimates and projections from various stakeholders.” February 27, 2018. https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research.... Accessed May 19, 2019.

Rother, John. “Is Arbitration and Asnwer for High Drug Prices?” Commonwealth Fund. May 3, 2019. https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog.... Accessed May 19, 2019.

Sood, Neeraj, et. al. “Flow of Money Through the Pharmaceutical Distribution System,” USC Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics. June 16, 2017. https://healthpolicy.usc.edu/research... Accessed May 19, 2019.

Thrush, Glenn and Katie Thomas. “Drug Prices Will Soon Appear in Many TV Ads.” The New York Times. May 8, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/08/us.... Accessed May 24, 2019.

U. S. Customs and Border Protection Agency. “The Mexican-American War Brings Regulation on Drug Importation” https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/fil...
Accessed June 12, 2019.