“This time, we beat Big Pharma”, United States President Joe Biden tweeted, after finally giving his government the power to negotiate the price of 10 prescription drugs, including medicines used to treat diabetes, blood cancer and kidney disease.Through these negotiations, it’s expected that millions of Americans will save a small fortune, as the price of drugs provided through the government’s national insurance programme tumble. The pharmaceutical giants are furious. For decades they have been able to charge Americans with public insurance whatever the market will bear for their products. Big Pharma, as these giants are known by their detractors, has now launched multiple legal actions to protect its monopoly power.By European standards, Biden’s actions are moderate. Most countries negotiate the price of drugs purchased by public health systems. While drug prices are still high across Europe, putting severe strain on overburdened health systems, they are a fraction of the price paid by Americans. What makes Biden’s action so significant is precisely that, up to now, Big Pharma has always had the upper hand in the US, using its power to extract whatever profits it likes from the American public. Despite the unpopularity of the industry, only a few brave politicians would stand up to it.
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