Pharmaceutical companies selling drugs in California will soon have to notify the public two months ahead of price hikes.
Legislation signed into law by California Governor Jerry Brown will aim to make drug prices and their laws more transparent. This is one of the strictest price monitoring laws for drugs in the country.
Other states are also moving to take a look at rapidly increasing prescription costs with hopes that it will force drug producers to lower the prices.
Nearly a quarter of Americans cannot afford prescription drugs, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. The issue became more prominent when the prices of Epipen and other crucial drugs spiked and caused outrage from the public and politicians.
The prescription drug industry has fought these transparency laws regarding medication prices for years.
Pharmaceutical companies argue that these laws don’t help to reduce the costs of medications and instead hinder their ability to spend money on research and development of new cures and drugs.
Other states that have passed similar drug-transparency laws, including Vermont and Nevada, require drug-makers to… (continue reading)
Author: Ryan Beitler
An editor and contributor to Addiction Now, Ryan Beitler is a journalist, fiction writer, musician, and travel writer. He has written for Paste Magazine, OC Weekly, numerous addiction recovery publications, and his travel blog Our Little Blue Rock. He lives in Southern California. Contact Ryan at ryanrbeitler@gmail.com or ryanb@addictionnow.com.
