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22 J. Health Care L. & Pol'y 15 (2019)
State and Federal Policy Solutions to Rising Prescriptions Drug Prices in the U.S.

handle is hein.journals/hclwpo22 and id is 19 raw text is: STATE AND FEDERAL POLICY SOLUTIONS TO RISING PRESCRIPTION DRUG PRICES IN THE U.S. WILLIAM V. PADULA, PHD* I. INTRODUCTION Right now is the greatest opportunity in over 30 years to curb the rising prices of prescription drugs. One of the last major pieces of federal legislation passed solely to reduce drug spending was the Drug Price Competition and Patient Term Restoration Act (aka the Hatch-Waxman Act) of 1984.1 Hatch- Waxman is estimated to have introduced more than $1 trillion in savings over the past decade alone due to the availability of low cost generics.2 However, the U.S. has recently witnessed the prices of generics increasing, particularly older generics with little competition such as Daraprim and EpiPen.3 Coverage of these price hikes by politicians and popular media has invigorated a national push to reform many aspects of the system that regulates drug pricing - a system that all but exists in a free market economy.4 In addition to price hikes on generics, new branded drugs have consistently become more expensive. Thankfully, new life-saving technologies have been introduced in recent history such as imatinib mesylate (brand name: Gleevec@; manufacturer: Novartis) for chronic myeloid leukemia, as well as cures for hepatitis C virus such as sofosbuvir (brand name: Solvaldi@; manufacturer: Gilead) and ledipasvir/sofosbuvir (brand name: Harvoni@; manufacturer: O 2019 William V. Padula, PhD. * The author is an Assistant Professor at the University of Southern California Department of Pharmaceutical & Health Economics. The author was supported by an unrestricted grant from the John and Laura Arnold Foundation for research on drug pricing. 1. Drug Price Competition and Patient Term Restoration Act of 1984, Pub. L. No. 98-417, 98 Stat. 1585. 2. Letter from John E. Dicken, Health Care Director, GAO, to Senator Orin Hatch, Drug Pricing: Research on Savings from Generic Drug Use (Jan. 31, 2012) (on file with GAO). 3. SPECIAL COMM. ON AGING U.S. SENATE, SUDDEN PRICE SPIKES IN OFF-PATENT PRESCRIPTION DRUGS: THE MONOPOLY BUSINESS MODEL THAT HARMS PATIENTS, TAXPAYERS, AND THE U.S. HEALTH CARE SYSTEM 39-41 (2016). 4. Corrina Sorenson, et al., Advancing Value Assessment in the United States: A Multistakeholder Perspective, 20 VALUE IN HEALTH. 299, 299-300 (2017). 15