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One of the by-products of the new Democratic controlled Congress is that Big Pharma companies are scared to death. The new Speaker is saying that there should be Medicare legislation to drive down drug costs. She even has suggested that the government negotiate directly with drug companies for products that will be used by Medicare patients.
Managment at firms like Pfizer, Merck, and Bristol-Myers have voiced concern. A lot of the drugs they make are targeted to the older Medicare population.
There is another odd wrinkle to some of the trial ballons that the Democrats are floating. It is with singular irony that the incoming party would like to increase that time and number of clinical trials for drugs but shorten the span under which they have patent protection. It is hardly an incentive for R&D at the drug companies.
More important, when you are old and sick, longer trials may not be your idea of a progressive proposal. Perhaps the new ruling party is learning to bite the hand that feeds it.
Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at [email protected]. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.
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