From the working group draft of the Clinton health-care reformplan (dated Sept. 7, 1993) in the section describing the NationalHealth Board:

To encourage reasonable pricing of breakthrough drugs, acommittee of the National Health Board has the authority tomake public declarations regarding the reasonableness oflaunch prices.

The committee could address new drugs that represent abreakthrough or significant advance over existing therapies.The committee could also address all drugs subject to a"reasonable price" clause in a contract with the NationalInstitutes of Health.

The committee could investigate drug prices only in those caseswhere available evidence suggests that the price may beunreasonable. The committee could make an initialdetermination about the reasonableness of a drug price basedon a comparison of prices for therapeutically similar drugs inthe United States and seven other industrialized countries.

If the drug price exceeds what the committee thinks to bereasonable based on the information available, or if there isinsufficient data, the committee would have the authority toobtain information from the company about the drug's price.The committee could then issue a report regarding thereasonableness of the drug price. The committee would have noauthority to set or control drug prices.

(c) 1997 American Health Consultants. All rights reserved.