Wonkbook: Clinton unveils plan to stop price-gouging on old drugs

By Carolyn Y. Johnson Hillary Clinton has been quick to criticize drug companies that raise the prices of old drugs to boost their profit margins, calling the EpiPen price hikes "outrageous" and accusing embattled pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli of "price gouging" on a decades-old anti-parasitic drug. On Friday morning, Clinton's campaign unveiled her plan to prevent …   The latest economic and domestic policy from Wonkblog   Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. (Matt Rourke/AP) By Carolyn Y. Johnson Hillary Clinton has been quick to criticize drug companies that raise the prices of old drugs to boost their profit margins, calling the EpiPen price hikes "outrageous" and accusing embattled pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli of "price gouging" on a decades-old anti-parasitic drug. On Friday morning, Clinton's campaign unveiled her plan to prevent companies from exploiting these kinds of older drugs, using measures such as fines and the threat of importing alternative treatments. Clinton's plan is carefully delineated to target "excessive, outlier" price hikes on "long-standing" treatments that haven't had any major improvements and have little or no competition. That's a clear attempt to reassure the pharmaceutical industry that government intervention won't squelch the development of new, pricey treatments. According to the campaign, the initiative will be focused on drugs without patent protection. But it also raises a slew of questions that could make the drug industry a little uncomfortable. How long does a treatment have to be around to be "long-standing"? Given that price hikes occur on pretty much every drug on the market, what is "excessive" and what is okay? Competition in the drug industry sometimes appears to have counterintuitive effects, even raising the prices of drugs, so what will count as the right amount of competition? It is also unclear how much the penalties will be and whether they will be administered as fines or increased rebates. ADVERTISEMENT   To figure all those details out, Clinton proposes a new watchdog group that will be charged with protecting consumers from drug price hikes. The precise details are vague, but it would include people from federal agencies that oversee health, safety and competition and would be advised by patient advocates and drug pricing experts. This group would draw a line between price increases that are acceptable and those that are not. When a company crosses into price-gouging territory, that group could impose fines, permit importing similar drugs or allow the government to directly support generic manufacturers by buying their drugs. Read the rest on Wonkblog.   Number of the day 151,000. That is the number of positions U.S. employers added to payrolls in August, according to the monthly report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Ylan Q. Mui has more. It was a lackluster report on the labor market, but Wonkbook is celebrating Labor Day all the same. The newsletter will resume on Sept. 12.    Top policy tweets "The U.S. economy needs a lot more jobs. It can't be that hard to create them. https://t.co/UDFNhgXsKv" -- @pdacosta "Wage growth continues to be faster than inflation. It just isn't accelerating." -- @bencasselman "Can't emphasize this enough: THERE'S NO SIGN OF INFLATIONARY PRESSURE." -- @JustinWolfers "Fed hinted a rate hike, but today's jobs report & no inflation pressure means not yet." -- @EconLipstick "Fed should be more concerned that late cycle type data is visible but without broad based wage growth and with inflation below target." -- @TimDuy Most Recent Posts from Wonkblog Middle-aged parents are now more likely to smoke weed than their teenaged kids Or, the rise of the vapey Boomers. By Christopher Ingraham  •  Read more »   The troubling reason it’s so hard to find a psychiatrist in the United States While the number of other types of health-care providers has increased, the number of psychiatrists has decreased — and many don't accept insurance. By Keith Humphreys  •  Read more »   CONTENT FROM ALLSTATE How #activism can inspire real change Millennials are taking advantage of new opportunities to share political and social views. 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Mui  •  Read more »   Clinton unveils plan to stop price-gouging on old drugs Clinton wants to impose fines on pharmaceutical companies for excessive price hikes. By Carolyn Y. Johnson  •  Read more »   ADVERTISEMENT   Recommended for you   Federal Insider Federal news and policy update, in your inbox daily. Sign Up »         Share Wonkbook:       Twitter      Facebook Trouble reading? Click here to view in your browser. You received this email because you signed up for a Wonkblog newsletter. For additional free newsletters or to manage your newsletters, click here. We respect your privacy. If you believe that this email has been sent to you in error or you no longer wish to receive email from The Washington Post, click here. Contact us for help. ©2016 The Washington Post, 1301 K St NW, Washington DC 20071