1. How strong (or weak) is the justication for govemmental intervention to reduce the prices of pharmaceutical agents from both a public interest standpoint as well as a special interest standpoint (from the perspective of payer(s))? How likely is it that reducing the time of exclusive patent protection for branded pharmaceuticals would save money/lower costs for buyers of prescription drugs? . What would be the consequences in terms of prices and users if prescription drug prices sold in the United States had to be the same or like prices at which the same prescription drug is sold to other countries