The VA Contracts Contained Similar Clauses -- For Decades -- But As To Other Private US-Based Parties...

To be certain, this is a good NPR story, on the "most favored nations" clause in the Pavlovid^® supply contract, with Pfizer. But one bit of the story suggests that such clauses were a Tangerine idea. Not so.

The United States Veterans' Administration has, for decades, required pharma and device companies to give it the lowest average price a counterparty receives -- in any private supply contract, for any good or drug, inside the US. So -- the only remotely new wrinkle here is that this contract purports to govern conduct wholly outside the US (pricing with Germany or the UK or Japan for example). But the measure is a good one, since it is limited to the richest reference nations. Here's the NPR story, which embeds a copy of the contract, itself. And here's a bit:

. . .The contract also has something called most favored nation pricing. It's kind of like getting a product at a store with a price match guarantee, like Target or Best Buy. If one of six other wealthy countries, such as Japan or Germany, gets a lower price for Paxlovid, the U.S. can push the company for the same price. . . .

As I say, new wine, into very old bottles -- but good news, for US consumers and taxpayers. Merck will no doubt be pretty much strong-armed into matching this clause in its pill contract with the US. Done, shoveling. . . grinning. . . Whew!

[And the Washington team NFL logos are (to my eye). . . uninspired, indeed. There you have it.]

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