Source: Beat The Press
by Dean Baker
“The New York Times ran an important investigative piece on how the opioid manufacturers gave kickbacks to pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to push their drugs, even in cases where they knew they could lead to addiction by patients. … This is an important piece, but it leaves a key factor out of the discussion. The reason why opioids were so profitable to the drug companies was that the government gave them patent monopolies that allowed them to sell opioids at prices far above the free market price. If these drugs were sold in a free market, like paper plates or ballpoint pens, there would have been little incentive for the drug companies to pay large kickbacks to push product. In fact, if drugs were sold in a free market, PBMs almost certainly would not exist.” (12/17/24)
https://cepr.net/government-granted-patent-monopolies-lead-to-corruption-47284/