Emerging Consensus for Legal Action on Pharmaceutical Pricing?
Panel
Panel 9: Competition and Compensation
Moderator
Shelly Gulati, Associate Professor, University of the Pacific, School of Engineering and Computer Science
Description
The United States is an outlier compared to other high-income countries in its relative lack of government oversight and regulation of pharmaceutical pricing. However, the political consensus may be shifting in favor of some degree of price regulation. Across political parties, federal and state elected officials and candidates for office are increasingly likely to accept as true that U.S. pharmaceutical prices are excessively high. While proposals vary, certain key themes are emerging: the need for more transparency in pricing, particularly in regard to the relationships between pharmacy benefit managers and state Medicaid programs; recognition that the existing patent system is being misused; the need to protect and incentivize generic production; and recognition of the arbitrariness of certain pricing structures. The presentation will highlight these key themes, with reference to legal strategies proposed and under consideration in different jurisdictions.
Location
Pacific McGeorge School of Law, Lecture Hall, 3200 Fifth Ave., Sacramento, CA
Emerging Consensus for Legal Action on Pharmaceutical Pricing?
Pacific McGeorge School of Law, Lecture Hall, 3200 Fifth Ave., Sacramento, CA
The United States is an outlier compared to other high-income countries in its relative lack of government oversight and regulation of pharmaceutical pricing. However, the political consensus may be shifting in favor of some degree of price regulation. Across political parties, federal and state elected officials and candidates for office are increasingly likely to accept as true that U.S. pharmaceutical prices are excessively high. While proposals vary, certain key themes are emerging: the need for more transparency in pricing, particularly in regard to the relationships between pharmacy benefit managers and state Medicaid programs; recognition that the existing patent system is being misused; the need to protect and incentivize generic production; and recognition of the arbitrariness of certain pricing structures. The presentation will highlight these key themes, with reference to legal strategies proposed and under consideration in different jurisdictions.
Speaker Bio
Emily Whelan Parento, JD, LLM is a Fellow at the O’Neill Institute. She holds a Juris Doctor and Master of Laws in Global Health Law from Georgetown University Law Center, and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance and Business Economics from the University of Notre Dame.
Prior to joining the O’Neill Institute, Emily held an appointment as a visiting assistant professor at the University of Louisville Louis D. Brandeis School of Law, teaching courses in health law, administrative law, and a food and drug law seminar. Earlier in her career, Emily served as a judicial clerk to the Honorable John G. Heyburn II, current chair of the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, in the United States District Court in Louisville, Kentucky (her hometown). She also practiced as a litigation associate at Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York and Menlo Park, California. Emily is admitted to the bars of New York, California, and Kentucky.
Emily’s primary research interests include the ways in which international law and global governance impact global health disparities, and the intersection of health and agricultural law in regard to global health. She is currently working with Faculty members on scholarship projects in these areas.