Everybody loses in the end: Billion-dollar government prizes won't improve on market incentives

29-08-2023

Andrei Iancu and David Kappos

Everybody loses in the end: Billion-dollar government prizes won't improve on market incentives

Lightspring / Shutterstock.com

Bernie Sanders’ plan to ‘delink’ the price of drugs from the cost of development ignores history, argue Andrei Iancu and David Kappos.

In his latest attempt to replace America's free market with government regulators to set prices for medicines, Senator Bernie Sanders wants to reward drug developers with cash prizes determined in Washington. In his vision, these would replace the current US patent system.

The independent Vermont senator has championed a government prize system for many years, but moved closer to his goal this summer, when he added a provision to a bill directing federal agencies to study his idea. The bill will get a vote soon, as its real purpose is to authorise the crucial Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act, which must be extended by the end of September.

Putting up prize money to develop breakthrough drugs for cancer or Alzheimer's may sound like a good idea. The prospect of a financial reward would in theory incentivise biotech companies to compete, and as a society, we would benefit from the new cures.


Bernie Sanders, government, drug development, prizes, patents, R&D, medical developments, AIDS, COVID-19, China, cures, investment

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