> How would that not significantly harm the pharmaceutical companies? Don't they make a decent percentage of their revenue off of brands which are currently price protected via these tariffs?
As lostapathy explained below, US prices are currently high because that's where pharmaceutical companies are capturing their profits. In fact, even European pharmaceutical companies make most of their revenue from sales in the US, not Europe. (This is why the US funds over 50% of R&D for the entire world, even though it only has 300 million people, and many of the largest pharmaceutical companies are based in Europe, not the US).
If reimportation were permitted[0], pharmaceutical companies would adjust the prices of drugs across those countries, which would bring drug prices in the US and Europe in line with one another.
Ultimately, pharmaceutical companies would still be able to make the same amount of money off the drugs, but it would distribute the sources of that money more evenly across the people who are actually using the drugs (and benefiting from the research and development).
[0] it would almost certainly only apply to reimports of drugs from other NATO countries (more or less), because those are the countries that abide by US patent law on drugs (India and China, by contrast, do not recognize US patent law on large classes of drugs),
>>> In fact, even European pharmaceutical companies make most of their revenue from sales in the US, not Europe. (This is why the US funds over 50% of R&D for the entire world, even though it only has 300 million people, and many of the largest pharmaceutical companies are based in Europe, not the US).
This just isn't true. Take Norvatis for example, one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world. The US makes 35% of their revenue and Europe another 35%, with the rest of the world sharing the rest. [0]
I wouldn't call that "most of their revenue". In fact, I don't see anything out of the ordinary about revenue gained per customer, given the size and purchasing power of the US.
There's little evidence to suggest that higher drug prices actually help the drug companies.
"the US funds over 50% of R&D for the entire world"
Not sure exactly what numbers you're basing that on, but I believe a significant portion of that research (especially basic level stuff) is government funded, which is not a good argument for allowing pharma companies to keep prices high.
> Not sure exactly what numbers you're basing that on, but I believe a significant portion of that research (especially basic level stuff) is government funded, which is not a good argument for allowing pharma companies to keep prices high.
As lostapathy explained below, US prices are currently high because that's where pharmaceutical companies are capturing their profits. In fact, even European pharmaceutical companies make most of their revenue from sales in the US, not Europe. (This is why the US funds over 50% of R&D for the entire world, even though it only has 300 million people, and many of the largest pharmaceutical companies are based in Europe, not the US).
If reimportation were permitted[0], pharmaceutical companies would adjust the prices of drugs across those countries, which would bring drug prices in the US and Europe in line with one another.
Ultimately, pharmaceutical companies would still be able to make the same amount of money off the drugs, but it would distribute the sources of that money more evenly across the people who are actually using the drugs (and benefiting from the research and development).
[0] it would almost certainly only apply to reimports of drugs from other NATO countries (more or less), because those are the countries that abide by US patent law on drugs (India and China, by contrast, do not recognize US patent law on large classes of drugs),