Readers React: Prescription drugs cost money to research and develop. Hence, high drug prices

To the editor: The primary way that the government can reduce drug prices is to make sure that no drug company can realize a return on any investment in developing new medications. Another way is to make sure that foreign firms who do not make that research investment can manufacture them anyway and sell them back to us at a price lower than cost.

Provided that a return on investment in new medicine is permitted, it does not hurt to know the price. But there will be no price at all unless somebody can make a living from researching and manufacturing new drugs without the prior permission of politicians.

Richard E. Ralston, Newport Beach

The writer is executive director of Americans for Free Choice in Medicine.

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To the editor: President Trump wants drug ads to disclose not just the potential side effects, but also the list price. This could drive down the price of prescriptions and give patients more information so they can discuss this aspect of their therapy with their doctors.

People badly need prescription prices to go down. So, is Trump’s proposal just a political maneuver before an election, or will it really happen? What our president says and what he actually does are not often the same.

Burt Sacks, Los Angeles

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