MIDLAND, Mich. — A new toolkit from the Mackinac Center for Public Policy offers state policymakers and advocates a roadmap for strengthening pharmaceutical policy. “The Free Market Remedy for Drug Pricing Ills: A Toolkit for State Lawmakers” suggests ways to improve patient access, support affordability, and preserve the conditions that make medical innovation possible.

The United States has led the world in pharmaceutical innovation and produced treatments that extend lives, improve quality of care, and turn once-devastating diagnoses into manageable conditions.

Despite federal policies that too often discourage innovation, states still have the authority and responsibility to act. By adopting smart reforms, state lawmakers can help patients.

The toolkit highlights reforms that would:

• Expand competition that lowers costs and empowers patients.

• Remove outdated regulatory barriers that restrict access and choice.

• Strengthen transparency and accountability in the pharmaceutical supply chain.

• Protect and accelerate innovation for future treatments and cures.

“Too often, the push to ‘do something’ ends up leaving behind vulnerable patients who already have the fewest options and the greatest need,” said Naomi Lopez, Mackinac Center for Public Policy adjunct scholar and Visiting Healthcare Policy Fellow at State Policy Network. “That is exactly why state lawmakers should pursue reforms that put patients first and make it easier for treatments to reach the people who need them.”

Read the full toolkit here.