Drug Pricing
Our work in Drug Pricing
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Reforming the Medicare Part D Benefit Design: Financial Implications for Beneficiaries, Private Plans, Drug Manufacturers, and the Federal Government
Researchers evaluate prescription drug claims from Medicare Part D beneficiaries to evaluate the current spending distribution.
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The Cantwell-Grassley PBM Bill Is Much Needed But More Can Be Done
The proposed reforms are a helpful start, but could go further in addressing the lack of competition in the U.S. PBM market.
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PBMs Are Inflating the Cost of Generic Drugs. They Must Be Reined In
Anti-competitive practices and a lack of transparency in the generic drug market allow pharmacy benefit managers to profit off patients and payers.
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The FDA Could Do More to Promote Generic Competition: Here’s How
USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative experts focus on three areas of FDA authority that could be refined to better promote generic competition: the Citizen Petition mechanism; the approval of so-called complex generic drugs; and the phenomenon known as “parking” under the Hatch-Waxman Act.
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Schaeffer White Paper Highlights Failures in Generic Drug Market That Cost Patients
A new USC Schaeffer Center paper highlights tactics used by intermediaries in the pharmaceutical distribution system, including pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and insurers, that are costing patients, employers and the government billions for what should be inexpensive medicines.
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U.S. Consumers Overpay for Generic Drugs
Tactics used by intermediaries in the pharmaceutical distribution system, including pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and insurers, are costing patients, employers and the government billions for what should be inexpensive medicines.
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Comments to the Federal Trade Commission on Pharmacy Benefit Managers
Researchers at the USC Schaeffer Center have been studying the pharmaceutical distribution system since 2016; these comments about PBMs draw on that body of research.
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Messages in Prescription Drug Advertising for Four Chronic Diseases, 2003-2016: A Content Analysis
Examining the frequency and content of messages related to pharmacological and evidence-based, non-pharmaceutical treatments in direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) for prescription drugs treating four chronic diseases in the United States.
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Who Is Really Driving Up Insulin Costs?
In the long term, capping insulin payments at $35 a month is just shuffling the deck rather than changing the game of insulin costs.
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Pharmacy Switching in Response to Preferred Pharmacy Networks in Medicare Part D
Researchers evaluate the effects of preferred pharmacy networks—a tool that Medicare Part D plans have recently adopted to steer patients to lower cost pharmacies—on the use of preferred pharmacies and factors underlying beneficiaries’ decisions on whether to switch to preferred pharmacies.