American scientists are counting Biden

Since taking office a year ago next Thursday, President Joe Biden is still facing the gargantuan task of navigating the country out of the worst public health crisis in a century. Success will require mustering the American biomedical community's full capacity for innovation.

But unfortunately, for years on end, unfair trade policies have enabled foreign governments to avoid paying their fair share for the American-made medicines that benefit their citizens on a daily basis. This must stop. The Biden administration must work to end practices abroad that undermine lifesaving work by American researchers and scientists that produce new treatments, cures, and vaccines.

Consider Japan's stringent price controls on prescription drugs. Japan's governmentadministered healthcare system employs a dubious process known as a 'Health Technology Assessment' to calculate the supposed benefit of each new medicine.

That's the basis by which Japanese bureaucrats, rather than market forces, dictate the prices that the Japanese government is willing to pay for new medicines.

That arrangement enables Japan's government to insist on absurdly low prices for state-of-the-art pharmaceuticals, most of which are invented here in the United States. That leaves American innovators with an impossible choice: either sell at a reduced rate — and lessen the opportunity to discover future therapies — or stay out of this critical market.

Unfortunately, America's recent phase one trade deal with Japan did nothing to address the country's price control system.

That's why the new administration must insist on change to Japan's policies in future trade negotiations.

Japan is hardly the only offender when it comes to free-riding on American innova-

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‘Guest Commentary’ By Charles Boustany CHARLES BOUSTANY (cont.)

tion. The United Kingdom's government-run healthcare system, the National Health Service, relies on an unscientific valuation process to determine which new drugs the government-run healthcare system will provide.

Tragically, the NHS systematically denies UK patients access to some of the latest medicines. By one estimate, only two in three new medicines released between 2011 and 2018 were on offer to British patients. The NHS is happy to wait for cheaper generics to come on the market after the innovators' patents run out — even as UK patients suffer.

There would be no generics, of course, without the innovation underlying them. Yet the UK shirks its responsibility to help pay for the American-led scientific innovation pipeline.

The UK's recent separation from the European Union has opened the door to a new trade deal with the United States. It's vital that the new administration's negotiators demand an end to an NHS valuation scheme that undermines America's scientists.

If a deal with the UK does get done, the Biden administration

it closely for compliance. The United States' recently concluded trade agreement with Korea took aim at a similar price control system. The agreement specifically requires Korea to appropriately value patented medicines. So far, Korea's leaders have fallen short of this obligation. The new administration can set a good precedent by holding Seoul to its obligations. The importance of pharmaceutical innovation has never been more clear, and must not be undervalued.

The Biden administration and Congress must use trade negotiations and vigorous enforcement of trade agreements to ensure the promotion of American innovation.

Charles Boustany is a retired physician and former congressman from Louisiana. This article originally appeared in Healthcare Today.