Drug tariffs: More complex than you think

How could the Trump administration’s on-again, off-again tariffs affect the pharmaceutical industry? It’s a much thornier question than you might think. It’s not just about APIs getting more expensive — the pharmaceutical supply chain is so complex, so international, and so interconnected that there’s no one-size-fits-all answer.

For example, the worlds of brand-name and generic drugs may be affected very differently depending on which tariffs actually stick. And oral meds are manufactured in different places (with potentially different tariffs) than injectables … and that’s not even talking about accessories like injectors and the plastic they’re made from.

In short, it’s a surprisingly and deeply complex topic. Luckily, there’s Marta Wosińska, senior fellow of economic studies at the Brookings Institution’s Center on Health Policy, who wrote “Will pharmaceutical tariffs achieve their goals?” We won’t even attempt to summarize it — you have to read it for yourself. But Wosińska knows what she’s talking about — in fact she was on the same panel as APC CEO Scott Brunner at the American Enterprise Institute last week. 

Her article isn’t short, but if you want an expert’s view on the potential impact of tariffs on your business, you won’t do any better than Marta’s analysis.