The Milbank quarterly
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The Milbank quarterly · Mar 2021
Comparative StudyWhy France Spends Less Than the United States on Drugs: A Comparative Study of Drug Pricing and Pricing Regulation.
Policy Points Spending on prescription drugs is much higher per capita in the United States than in most other industrialized nations, including France. Lower prescription drug spending in France is due to different approaches to managing drug prices, volume of prescribing, and global health budgets. Linking a drug's price to value both at the launch of the drug and over its lifetime is key to controlling spending. Regulations on prescription volume and global spending complement the interventions on prices. If the United States adopted the French approach to regulating drug pricing, Medicare could potentially save billions of dollars annually on prescription drug spending.