Report | The Role of Monopoly in America’s Prescription Drug Crisis

This report, “The Role of Monopoly in America’s Prescription Drug Crisis,” exposes how big pharma drives up drug costs through patent monopolies, abuses of regulations, and corporate consolidation. These forms of monopoly thwart competition, stifle innovation, cause drug shortages, and decrease drug safety. Open Markets offers policy solutions for lawmakers and regulators to rein in the outrageous drug prices facing Americans.

Authored by Michael Bluhm, this report reveals how monopoly markets for individual drugs are created and perpetuated by a deeply flawed and increasingly abused patent and regulatory system. In conjunction with corporate concentration in the pharmaceutical industry, these monopolies create perverse incentives for drugmakers to focus on rent-seeking ahead of improving public health through developing groundbreaking medicines. 

There is a dire need for better public policies to reset the terms of competition and the balances of power in drug markets, so that they serve the public good. These policies include patent reforms, antitrust enforcement, cash prizes for innovation, regulatory measures to spur competition, and price regulation.

Download the report here or read the full report below.