The Drug Price Controversy

President Clinton holds that pharmaceutical companies are overcharging patients for their medicines and that price controls are needed to stop the abuse. So far, it appears that Clinton may be more successful than Bush in bringing his own brand of drug barons to heel.

Which is not to say that an oversized and pugnacious pharmaceutical industry is sinking into a sea of mea culpas. But companies are showing signs of bending under public criticism. A few are seeking to develop voluntary price controls. Others are scrambling to protect profits and privileges. When the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) recently published a 360-page tome on drug costs and profits, seven companies, calling themselves Rx Partners and represen...