U.S. pharmaceutical companies charge different prices for prescription drugs to buyers in different nations, depending on elasticity of demand and government-imposed price ceilings.Porter (2008) observed, "...Pharmaceutical companies that offer patented drugs with distinctive medical benets have more power over hospitals, health maintenance organizations, and other drug buyers, for example, than drug companies offering me-too or generic products (p. 83).

Using Porter's (2008) article as the economic context for yoursubstantiveresponse, explain why these companies, for profit reasons, oppose laws allowing re-importation of drugs to the United States. Evaluate how the power of the pharmaceutical industry may be impacting the U.S. government's response to the Covid-19 global pandemic.