Cost transparency bills [for pharmaceuticals] have also been introduced in California, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oregon and Pennsylvania.
Three of the bills require disclosures for drugs costing $10,000 or more per year. The others have different criteria. Besides development costs, some of the bills would require disclosure of the costs of manufacturing, marketing and advertising. At least some of the bills also ask for a history of price increases, the profit attributable to the drug and how much a company spends in providing financial assistance to patients using the drug.
Two of the bills would allow the states to act on the information, not just require disclosure. Pennsylvania’s would allow insurers to refuse to pay for a drug if the manufacturer did not file the required report. In Massachusetts, a state commission would be able to set a maximum price for a drug if it determined that the price set by the manufacturer was significantly high compared with the benefits, costs or prices in other countries.
Would any of these state laws violate the TRIPS Agreement? Are there possible ISDS challenges?
