Bipartisan Policy Center calls for U.S. to adopt external, internal reference pricing

Mark Twain may have believed that “comparison is the death of joy,” but the Trump administration and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) agree that it is a key to determining appropriate U.S. prices for drugs. The administration is finalizing a proposal to link some Medicare Part B drug prices to an international pricing index and the House Democratic leadership's drug pricing bill, the Lower Drug Costs Now Act (H.R. 3) seeks to benchmark U.S. drug prices to average prices in six countries.

The Bipartisan Policy Center Tuesday endorsed the idea, releasing a report that advocates in favor of both external reference pricing -- benchmarking a drug’s price to prices in other countries -- and internal reference pricing, which seeks to steer usage to the least expensive therapeutically similar drug. ...