You’re assuming every country but the US has price controls on pharma. A cite to that affect would be useful.
Also, the drugs I’m familiar with are not reimported. They are made overseas. Usually by a division of the American manufacturer. Advocating a captive US market for any product is so far from free trade as to be a laugh.
Not "every", but all the other developed countries.
US Dept of Commerce Study
FDA Commissioner speech
Cato Institute editorial
The Cato proposal is not unrealistic, but it's miles away from what the Senate proposed last week.
And guess what:
Nature study on innovation
AEI-Brookings study on new drugs
Of course you realize that the Democratic proposals are not about "free trade" or lower prices, but about managing our liberty in the service of government agencies, unions, and HMOs, right?
The reason that Rx drugs cost less in countries like Canada is that international laws on commerce treat prescription drugs differently from other consumer products. U.S. pharmaceutical companies are required under a 1994 treaty to sell their drugs at drastically cut prices to countries with drug price controls...