Tevi Troy
Appearances
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2199 - Trump’s Saudi TRIUMPH
Yeah, Ben, that is exactly right. And I always get nervous when I hear the phrase unilaterally set prices, because that's government setting prices rather than the market setting prices. And as you know well, the market is the best mechanism for setting prices. But you're right.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2199 - Trump’s Saudi TRIUMPH
The Europeans artificially push down American prices because they don't want to pay their full share for pharmaceutical products. And that does leave American consumers spitting the bill. imposing price controls here doesn't solve the problem.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2199 - Trump’s Saudi TRIUMPH
What we should do is, yes, encourage the European countries to pay their fair share, but also we should do FDA regulatory reform so it doesn't cost over $3 billion to do a new drug. We also need to do tort reform. The trial lawyers extort hundreds of billions of dollars from these pharmaceutical companies, and that gets priced into the products.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2199 - Trump’s Saudi TRIUMPH
So there's a lot of other factors here besides just what President Trump is talking about.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2199 - Trump’s Saudi TRIUMPH
Yeah, it's a really great question. And there's a lot of really great points you made, including the fact that generics are indeed cheaper here. It is incredibly expensive to bring products to market. The FDA has very rigorous testing, but also a huge skepticism towards the pharma industry, which makes it hard to get products through. The trial lawyers then sue the pants off these companies.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2199 - Trump’s Saudi TRIUMPH
And this is part of a 30-plus year war that I talk about in Commentary Magazine. where the trial lawyers and Hollywood and the Democratic Party and now, unfortunately, the Republican Party are constantly demonizing Big Pharma, imposing new restrictions on them, doing new lawsuits on them, making them the bad guys in all the movies. And that makes them unpopular.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2199 - Trump’s Saudi TRIUMPH
It makes their products more expensive. And it also makes it less likely that young, smart Americans are going to go into the pharmaceutical industry and innovate and create great new products.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2199 - Trump’s Saudi TRIUMPH
The best year we've ever had was the FDA approving about 50 products in one year. Usually it's closer to about 30 products in a year. And just think about all the companies and all the potential products and all the potential sicknesses and illnesses that can be treated. So it's very hard. It is a huge winnowing process. And also this gets into your expertise, Ben, about Hollywood and the culture.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2199 - Trump’s Saudi TRIUMPH
It creates this blockbuster effect where you don't want to do a single or a double. Every drug has to be a home run in order to justify the massive costs. So that's why every drug they put out is the equivalent of a Marvel movie. And if you do have a small disease called an orphan disease, the drug companies barely even bother to make products for those types of illnesses.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2199 - Trump’s Saudi TRIUMPH
I think it's about 15 years, but that counts once you declare the patent and it doesn't count all the FDA testing. So there's a whole bunch of things that are happening while your patent clock is ticking. And once that clock ticks down, then as you say, the generic is out there on the market and undercutting you on price. And I'm for generics.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2199 - Trump’s Saudi TRIUMPH
I think we should have generics after the patent window expires, but it does make it put a lot of pressure on the pharmaceutical companies to get as much to recoup their investment in the period in which they have the patent still in effect.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2199 - Trump’s Saudi TRIUMPH
Yeah, that's exactly right. We are going to see less innovation, fewer products making it to market, maybe fewer markets, or maybe fewer products being available in America. That's what happened in Europe. Europe, because of their price controls, yes, there are lower prices, but they have fewer products available and they have a much less robust biotechnology sector.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2199 - Trump’s Saudi TRIUMPH
So there are advantages to our more free market way of pricing, even though the prices are higher here. I do fear that President Trump's executive order is more just a statement than something that actually will change prices. And you would need congressional action.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2199 - Trump’s Saudi TRIUMPH
But look, Biden did congressional action in terms of the Inflation Reduction Act, horribly named legislation, but also horrible legislation. And they're trying to impose price controls in Medicare. And so, yes, he did it through Congress, but it's still bad policy.