Trump pharma tariff threat raises specter of shortages, price hikes

[C_Clayton_Jones]

‘The pharmaceutical industry is bracing for chaos if President Trump follows through on his threat to impose “a major tariff” on prescription drug imports.

Tariffs would disrupt international supply chains, force companies to decide whether to pass increased costs on to patients and exacerbate existing drug shortages.

The administration wants more drug companies to onshore their manufacturing, but experts said such a process would take years, while the pain from tariffs could be much more immediate.

“We’re going to be announcing very shortly a major tariff on pharmaceuticals,” Trump said Tuesday, without elaborating on details.

He said it is a “tremendous problem” that “the United States can no longer produce enough antibiotics to treat our sick.”’

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5245652-trump-tariffs-pharma-drug-shortages-trade-war-hhs-kennedy/

“Tariffs would disrupt international supply chains, force companies to decide whether to pass increased costs on to patients and exacerbate existing drug shortages.”

What happened to conservatives being advocates of free markets and unfettered trade – yet the vast majority of conservatives voted for Trump.

 

[1srelluc]

OP spamming up the board again with bait threads.

 

[kyzr]

Good on Trump.

 

[my2¢]

Biden said, if you went “anywhere in the world,” you could get a prescription filled for 40% to 60% less than it costs in the U.S.

He exaggerated by saying “anywhere in the world,” but for comparable high-income, industrialized countries, he’s mostly on target.

“It’s complicated. Everything in health care costs more here, not just [prescriptions],” said Joseph Antos, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative-leaning think tank, in an email interview. Although the government’s new Medicare drug negotiation is the United States’ first attempt to set drug prices, Antos noted that U.S. drug price negotiation still doesn’t operate as price-setting for prescriptions in Europe does because it’s limited to a few drugs and doesn’t apply to Medicaid or private insurance.

Pharmaceutical companies changing more for drugs shipped to America compared to prices other countries pay is a situation Biden neglected for the most part.

 

[Scoutster]

Good on Trump.

 

[Harry Dresden]

OP spamming up the board again with bait threads.

yea he has 3 so far today....he thinks he is changing minds...

 

[Dekster]

Few years old but to illustrate the issue:

"PharmacyChecker found that most of the brand-name drugs and APIs in this report are made in other high-income countries with similarly strict standards as those in the United States. Of the 100 brand-name drugs, 32 were finished in the United States, while 67 were finished in countries in the European Union, Canada, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Only one brand-name drug, the anticonvulsant Neurontin (gabapentin), was made in India....

""About 80% of generic drugs were finished in foreign countries, and an even greater percentage had their API made in foreign countries," he added. "In contrast to brand-name drugs, which are largely made in Europe, generic products and their API are typically made in Asian countries such as India, China, Japan, Singapore, and others."

Report details where top 100 brand-name Rx drugs are made

www.cidrap.umn.edu