As Congress and the administration consider policy proposals to lower the price of prescription drugs, they need to keep in mind the unique dynamics of the drug industry. As Joe Kennedy writes for The Hill, academic studies show there is a strong relationship between the revenues drug companies earn on their current products and the amount of research they conduct on the next generation of treatments that future patients will need. Americans deserve affordable prescription drugs. But they also deserve the world’s most competitive and innovative biopharmaceutical industry and the steady supply of innovative cures it produces. They can have both, but only if drug prices continue to reflect the social value that they create.
