Prerequisites: None

Exam Type: No Exam

This seminar explores the frameworks within health law and policy that relate to access to investigational and prescription drugs. The seminar will focus on a number of foundational topics within health law, including the United States’ fragmented structure of Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance and how insurance relates to prescription drug affordability; the distribution of authority between legislators and regulators at the state and federal level as they make new law in this area; and how drug candidates are evaluated and, in the case of successful candidates, approved by federal regulators. The seminar will also apply these frameworks to a number of current issues in the area, including but not limited to drug pricing reform, expedited approval pathways, and the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on drug and vaccine development.

Students may complete a research paper that would satisfy the Analytical Paper requirement.