Opinion: ‘Most-favored nation’ drug pricing has three significant problems
There are many good reasons why the U.S. should pay more for earlier access to new medications than its trading partners.
Americans have run out of patience with paying three times more for innovative medicines than other developed countries. The Trump administration can bring balance to this global pricing system, but first it needs to avoid a response that will help no one.
The administration is exploring so-called “most-favored nation” (MFN) pricing, which pegs U.S. drug prices to the lowest level paid by comparable countries. At the end of his first term, President Trump ordered Medicare to implement such an MFN policy, only to have the order blocked by the Biden administration.
