Op-ed: Lee Currie: America Should Make Wealthy Countries Pay Their Fair Share for Medicines
By Lee Currie
As a former executive director of the North Carolina Republican Party, I have spent years talking with voters about the same basic promise: government should stand up for taxpayers, reward work and protect American strength.
That is exactly what is at stake in the fight over prescription medicines.
North Carolina is not a spectator in this debate. From the Research Triangle to biopharmaceutical manufacturing communities across our state, North Carolina has become one of America’s life sciences leaders. The industry supports more than 100,000 direct life sciences jobs in our state and more than 213,000 jobs overall, helping drive research, manufacturing and economic opportunity for North Carolina families.
That success is the direct result of American ingenuity, private investment, strong intellectual property protections and a policy environment that rewards the enormous risk required to develop new medicines.
But for too long, wealthy foreign countries have gamed the system.
Countries across Europe impose aggressive government pricing schemes that keep their own drug costs artificially low while American patients, workers and companies carry more of the cost of global medical innovation. That is not fair trade. It is exploitation.
President Trump deserves credit for taking this problem head-on.
The administration has cut voluntary pricing deals with major pharmaceutical manufacturers and launched TrumpRx.gov to give Americans more transparent access to discounted medicines. According to the White House, President Trump has announced 17 deals with major pharmaceutical manufacturers to align domestic prices with those paid in other developed nations. Coupled with TrumpRx.gov, which is designed to list company discounts in one place so patients can compare prices more easily, this administration is putting the American patient first.
In June, a Section 301 trade investigation into Germany’s drug pricing practices was opened by the federal government, citing concerns that Germany’s policies force American patients to shoulder a disproportionate share of global pharmaceutical research and development.
That is exactly the kind of America First trade enforcement Republicans should support.
Germany is one of the wealthiest nations in the world. It should not be allowed to underpay for innovative medicines while expecting American patients and innovators to shoulder the burden of the difference. And Germany should not be the end of the story. The administration should continue pressing other wealthy countries, including Spain, France and Italy, to pay their fair share for the medicines their citizens use.
This matters in North Carolina.
When foreign governments undervalue American medicines, they weaken the system that supports new cures, advanced manufacturing and high-skilled jobs here at home. North Carolina’s life sciences sector depends on a strong innovation economy. If we allow this foreign freeloading to continue, we are putting that leadership at risk.
Voters understand this better than many politicians think. A national poll from Americans for Health Excellence and McLaughlin & Associates found that 72% of voters say it is time for other countries to pay their fair share for American medicines. Even more, 81%, support using trade negotiations to demand fair pricing from foreign nations, and 73% support legislation explicitly ending “foreign freeloading” on U.S. drug innovation. That is a direct mandate from voters for Congressional action.
Americans want lower costs, but they do not want U.S. patients treated like the world’s piggy bank for medicine. They want leaders who will lower costs at home, hold insurers accountable and force wealthy allies to stop shifting their bills onto American families.
President Trump has made important progress. Now his administration and Congress should keep going.
The United States should use every available trade tool to make wealthy foreign countries pay fairly for American medicines. That means following through on Germany, expanding scrutiny to other European countries and making clear that access to the American market comes with a basic expectation: our allies cannot exploit American innovation.
North Carolina helped build America’s life sciences leadership. Washington should fight to protect it.
R. Lee Currie Jr, is a former Executive Director of the Norh Carolina Republican Party and a former Executive Director of the Foundation for Economic Education
