Americans "May Be Paying Twice For Their drugs"

Americans may be paying twice for their drugs, once through taxes and again at the drug store, because the government is not keeping tabs on the way private industry uses taxpayer-financed research, an investigation by the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services has found.

While the government has rights to any drug or medical device developed through federally-financed research, it can claim them only if it has proof of the funding. Only one person has been assigned to track the $8 billion which the National Institutes of health awards annually to outside scientists, and to find out how many medical discoveries have resulted from this funding, according to Assistant Inspector General Michael Hill, speaking before the House Small Business Regulation subcommittee, which had requested the inquiry.

Scientists are supposed to report to the NIH those patents which are even partially financed by the government. The NIH, which then has certain rights to the product, can license it to a competitor if it feels the price is too high. It can also make sure that manufacturers do not stop developing cheaper treatments, and ensure that these drugs are available in the USA, and not just abroad. Such threats are thought to have resulted in the price of Wellcome's Retrovir (zidovudine) being lowered.