The idea that the government would start comparing the effectiveness of drugs scares the hell out of pharma:

WASHINGTON, Jan 15 (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic lawmakers proposed on Thursday spending $1.1 billion on research to compare the effectiveness of medical treatments, part of efforts to lower health-care costs for taxpayers.

Pharmaceutical and medical-device companies worry the government funded research will jeopardize billions of dollars of sales for their newest and most lucrative treatments.

Source: US Democrats seek $1 bln to weigh medical products | Industries | Healthcare | Reuters