Why Are U.S. Drugs So Expensive?

Abstract

This paper dives into the intertwined aspects that proves the hypothesis that the FDA's regulations and fees are the reason for the expensive drug prices in the United States. First addressing the extensive testing procedure and how the requirements have been increasing racking up the price to get drugs on the market. For example In 2022 each drug costed around $6 billion to be approved. Next, user fees are addressed and how they are straining companies. User fees were originally opposed by most of the FDA board for the exact draw backs the U.S. is seeing now. Still the fees are continuing to increase from collecting $4 billion in total, over four years, to in more recent years collecting $1.8 billion from each user. Then, the regulation they lack is talked about as even with all the regulations they have in place they are not targeting the right agendas that we see in other countries. There are boards that evaluate drugs effectiveness and set the price range and shut down drugs that lack innovation. Finally, many people argue that there is no fault in this as all of these are for the safety of U.S. citizens' health. Yet emergency use is permitted and data shows that drug recalls have only increased with the influx in pricing. Clearly, this is an issue that needs to be resolved.