Welcome back to the Ten Blocks podcast. This is your host, Brian Anderson, the editor of City Journal.

The cost of prescription drugs has become one of the hot political issues of our time.

Progressive politicians like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have called for strict regulation of prescription drug prices.

And as the midterm results indicate, their ranks in Congress

are going to grow next session. But Donald Trump, too, has grumbled about drug prices,

and at times has threatened drug companies with further regulation to keep those prices reasonably low.

The pharmaceutical industry has been a target of criticism and public anger for decades over what are

deemed excessive prices, and the anger is understandable, since people's health can often depend

on a regular supply of drugs. Few people understand how drug development works, however.

A new drug, for example, takes often more than a decade to

bring to market, and the potential for financial losses can be enormous. So that's why we invited

John Tierney, City Journal contributing editor, to talk about his piece in the new issue of

City Journal, what the prescription drug debate gets wrong. It's a masterful and clear

discussion of what's at stake in this very important debate. After the music, we'll talk with

John Tierney. We hope you enjoy. Hello again, everyone. This is Brian Anderson, the editor of City Journal.

Joining me on the show today is John Tierney. John is a contributing editor at City Journal,

and before joining us, he was a reporter and columnist for many years at the New York Times,

and he is a best-selling author. His latest piece for City Journal is called What the Prescription Drug Debate gets wrong,

and it appears in our autumn 2018 issue.

John, thanks for joining us.

Thanks, Brian.

Now, critics of the pharmaceutical industry, Big Pharma, as they often call it,

...