America’s plan to cut drug prices comes with unpleasant side-effects

“America is the piggy-bank of the pharma world,” gripes David Mitchell of Patients for Affordable Drugs, a consumer lobbying group. There is some truth to this. America is the world’s largest pharmaceutical market, with $630bn in sales in 2022, or 42% of the worldwide total. Its contribution to profits—65% of the global haul—is greater still. American patients have long borne the burden of these juicy returns. Prescription medicines in America cost two to three times more than in other rich countries (see chart). Patients’ out-of-pocket expenses, the slice of drug costs not covered by insurance, are also among the world’s highest.