Title

Modern Bootlegging and the Prohibition on Fair Prices: Last Call for the Repeal of Pharmaceutical Price Gouging

Authors

Luke W. Cleland

Abstract

This article discusses the recent passage of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Modernization and Improvement Act of 2003, and the executive and judicial decisions affecting the ability of the general public to access foreign pharmaceutical markets. The article examines the recent actions taken by the U.S. government, explore various state movements within the United States aimed at reducing pharmaceutical drug prices, outline the process of pharmaceutical drug prices in foreign countries, and advocate for a workable integration of all available mechanisms to feasibly reduce prescription drug prices for the benefit of both U.S. consumers and U.S. drug companies. As avenues to meaningful lower drug prices close one by one, a last chance may remain to finally combine state initiatives, government safety concerns, and ideas abroad into a workable form of price control. The proposed model will protect the pharmaceutical industry’s profit interests, as well as the American public’s interest in meaningful access to prescription drugs that does not choke off access to meaningful lives.

Disciplines

Antitrust and Trade Regulation | Economics | Food and Drug Law | Health Law and Policy | Intellectual Property Law | International Trade Law | Law and Economics | Law and Politics | Law and Society | Science and Technology Law

Date of this Version

May 2004