The CREATES Act Of 2019 Was Introduced in The Senate on May 2 2019 with The Core Objective of Lowering the High Cost of Prescription Drugs in The United States

Title The CREATES Act Of 2019 Was Introduced in The Senate on May 2 2019 with The Core Objective of Lowering the High Cost of Prescription Drugs in The United States

Respond to the discussion post below in the order description box by either supporting or respectfully challenging their explanation on whether there is an evidence base to support the proposed health policy they described.

The CREATES Act of 2019 was introduced in the Senate on May 2, 2019, with the core objective of lowering the high cost of prescription drugs in the United States (Congress.gov, 2019). Conventional wisdom dictates that the problem caused by drugs’ research and development is capital intensive. Innovative pharmaceutical companies need to reinvest the profits they make in developing and producing new and superior products. Besides, these firms need to recover the monies they invested in developing new drugs and improving the existing drugs (Lietzan, 2016). Therefore, the high cost of drugs is identified as a risk to public health. Politicians, researchers, and other concerned stakeholders are working on finding a means of lowering drug prices. The CREATES Act of 2019 is one of the approaches being used to address the problem. This study evaluates the CREATES Act of 2019 to establish whether a concrete evidence base supports its design.

In the quest to lower drug prices, the CREATES Act seeks to promote competition in the drug market by employing strategies supported by evidence from the research literature. Therefore, to reduce drug prices, the bill will stop pharmaceutical firms from blocking their counterparts that produce cheap generic drugs (Congress.gov, 2019). The bill also prevents pharmaceutical companies from using safety regulations to prevent other companies from making drugs. In other words, the bill seeks to bring an end to “predatory delay tactics” and “regulatory abuse” employed by innovating pharmaceutical companies to make the drug inaccessible to companies that produce generic or biosimilar versions (Lietzan, 2016). While the bill has the potential of lowering drug prices, it is only the presence of a concrete evidence base that can ascertain its sustainability and viability.

The CREATES Act relies on a sound evidence base, thus effectively solving the current problems of “regulatory abuse” and “predatory delay tactics” among big innovating pharmaceutical companies. There is no doubt the bill will lower the prices of the drugs. The only question that remains unanswered is whether the bill will be sustainable in the long term if the motivation is considered. Highly innovative pharmaceutical firms invest significant resources in research and development of drugs. Thus, it means they will be disincentivized to engage in intense research and development only for other companies to accrue the benefits. This aspect must be given due consideration to make the bill a lasting solution.