You’re assuming every country but the US has price controls on pharma. A cite to that affect would be useful. 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?
NRO Article
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...
Thanks for the link to that Liz Whelan article. For those here who mistakenly assert that selling drugs in Canada is voluntary:
Any pharmaceutical company that fails to comply can be punished by having its patent protection taken away. It is as if you were selling books in the United States for $10 and when you offered them to Canada, officials there told you that they would either give you $4 or violate your intellectual property rights and make copies of the book without your permission, in the name of educating Canadians.
To comply with this treaty, drug companies slash prices for countries with price controls, which means most countries in the developed world. The purchasing countries in this "deal" are supposed to agree not to turn around and resell the drugs to Americans. That means all the state programs to "reimport" drugs are illegal, but the law is almost never enforced — and as you read this the Senate and House are considering bills that make importation completely legal.
The Drug Import Hoax
That should provide a sobering dose of reality for all those here who really believe in free trade, the rule of law and conservative principles in general. Some others still couldn't give a damn as long as they get theirs.