When assessing the viability of an investment, investors attempt to calculate the business’s or product’s net-present value (NPV). The NPV combines a project’s likelihood of success with an estimate of the money it may make over time to determine its present value to investors. The price-setting provisions of the IRA reduce the NPV of any drug candidate at launch by 40%. If investors aren’t confident they will earn a return on their investment, they won’t invest in new drug candidates, and most ideas will never leave the laboratory.

Europe and the United Kingdom undervalue new medicines. If the United States adopted European-style price controls, the world would benefit from fewer new cures–and we’d all be worse off.