Cap U.S. drug prices based on prices in other developed countries
Health care
Owners voting their values can deliver most of the outcome.
Why shareholder democracy is pivotal
Drug makers set U.S. list prices themselves, so restrained pricing by the companies would deliver most of this outcome without a new law. The same companies are also the main obstacle to a legislated cap: Public Citizen counted 545 lobbyist-client relationships working to weaken Medicare drug price negotiation in 2025, outnumbering supporters about 20 to 1. Investors already contest pricing strategy directly, as in the 2024 ICCR proposals at AbbVie, Merck, Pfizer and other firms linking patent-extension pricing tactics to patient access.
How this was scoredPivotal
Pivotal. Owners voting their values can deliver most of the outcome.
We have not yet written down the two answers behind this rating. Recording them on every item, so a reader can check the reasoning and not only the conclusion, is work in progress.
Every rating is the higher of two answers, one for what companies do and one for what they spend to stop the outcome, because the same vote reaches both. See the full method.
Sources
- On Healthcare Costs: In Battleground States and Districts, Republicans and Democrats Agree On Proposals to Lower Prices, Expand Coverage, Program for Public Consultation / Voice of the People, 2026 (national survey February 11-26, 2026)
- Hundreds of Lobbyists Hired to Undermine Drug Price Negotiations, Public Citizen, 2025-11
- 2024 Shareholder Proposals at Pharma Companies Cite Strategies to Keep Drug Prices High as Potential Human Rights Risks, Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, 2023-12-14
What civil society organizations are helping owners on this
Coordinates member proposals at large pharmaceutical companies asking boards to weigh the effect of extended patent exclusivity and pricing strategies on patient access.
Led the 2024 patent-exclusivity proposals at Pfizer and Eli Lilly.
3 campaigns on record
Establish and report on a process by which the impact of extended patent exclusivities on product access would be considered in deciding whether to apply for secondary and tertiary patents.
Result: not stated in source
Establish and report on a process by which the impact of extended patent exclusivities on product access would be considered in deciding whether to apply for secondary and tertiary patents.
With Mercy Investment Services, Bon Secours Mercy Health
Result: not stated in source
Conduct a human rights impact assessment covering pricing and access to medicines.
Result: not stated in source
Related subjects on other maps
How this rating was made
Every item on every one of our maps is read against one question: how far does this depend on the people who own companies voting their values? We answer it twice, once for what companies do and once for what they spend to stop the outcome, and take whichever answer is higher, since the same vote reaches both. The score carries its reasoning and its sources so that a reader can check it rather than take it.
- Pivotal. Owners voting their values can deliver most of the outcome.
- Necessary. Owners remove an obstacle nothing else removes, and others must also act.
- Helpful. Owners voting their values help, and others carry most of it.
- Independent. This moves without owners. Other levers carry it.
The advocacy record on this page holds only what a source we opened says happened. Where we searched and found nothing, the page says so rather than leaving a silence. Where a campaign names a filer the source does not name, it says that too. Ratings are ours; the list of subjects is Common Ground of the American People's, and we link to their original.
How we score dependency, in full.