Murray Aitken, vice president of IMS Health, the world's largest source of drug-price and sales data, and MIT professor Ernst Berndt will explain why their research shows that average drug prices for seniors have declined, not increased, by more than 20 percent.

Efforts to limit the commercial use of data on physician prescribing could have broad implications for regulatory programs that promote drug safety. At issue are a series of laws pursued by state legislators that would restrict access to information on the prescriptions written by individual doctors.

The only way to improve the availability of these products is to make it possible for firms to keep pace with rising production costs and earn enough returns to invest back in better manufacturing that enables stable, safe, and more scalable supply.

Intrusive and aggressive price regulation by the U.S. government could have devastating effects on the pharmaceutical market.

As Congress considers legislation that would allow imitative biological products, known as "biosimilars," to rely on the safety and efficacy data of original innovators, it must ensure that any provisions passed will foster, not stifle, discovery.

New research findings and a thorough reassessment of older research indicate that drugs like Vioxx can have many important benefits and great potential for addressing serious problems.