Despite window-dressing language that talks up the need for negotiation in setting drug prices, the “international pricing index” would replace the current market-based system and set the stage for government-dictated, artificially low prices. As learned from painful experiences in the US and elsewhere, price controls only “succeed” in causing shortages, which prompts rationing. If it isn't Soviet breadlines, it's cars lined up for blocks waiting to buy gasoline in the Nixon-era 70s. Zimbabweans starved in 2007 and continue to starve today as a result of persistent, painful rationing policy.
Read more: Price Controls Aren't the Answer on Pharmaceuticals
