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Colorado Lawmakers Want To Find Out Why Some Prescription Drugs Are So Expensive

DENVER (CBS4)- Colorado lawmakers want to get to the root of the most expensive prescription drugs so they can find a way to make them more affordable. If the bill passes, the state could compile a list of the 20 highest cost prescription drugs.

Then they would break down exactly what's driving the cost. That means tracking the drug from research and development to production to advertising and marketing.

Prescription pills in a yellow bottle over a wooden table
(Photo by Roberto Machado Noa/LightRocket via Getty Images)

"We need to find out why these costs are continually getting higher and higher and higher and this bill sheds light on how a pharmaceutical company manufactures a drug and what are costs go into it," said Sen. Joanne Ginal, a Democrat representing Fort Collins.

On Thursday, lawmakers took up another bill regarding importing drugs. Last year the state Legislature approved a Canadian drug import program. Now they want to expand that to other countries.

The federal government would have to approve any drug import program.

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