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FRIDAY, Jan. 10, 2020 (HealthDay News) — A proposal for California to contract generic drug companies to make medications would make the state the first in the country to produce its own medications.<\/p>\n
Increasing competition in the generic drug market would lower drug prices for the state’s nearly 40 million residents, according to Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, the Associated Press<\/i> reported. The proposal also includes a single market for drug pricing in the state. Companies would have to bid to sell their medicines at a set price.<\/p>\n
“Other countries control or negotiate the price of drugs, and if there is one state that could do it, it’s California, which is the size of a country,” Larry Levitt, executive vice president of health policy for the Kaiser Family Foundation, told the AP<\/i>. “A drug company could walk away from Rhode Island. It’s much harder to walk away from California.”<\/p>\n
The proposal must be approved by lawmakers before it takes effect. Priscilla VanderVeer, vice president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, told the AP<\/i> she is waiting for more details on the proposal before she will comment.<\/p>\n