PRICE CONTROLS WON'T HURT DRUG FIRMS.(MAIN)

Byline: DERRICK Z. JACKSON

Drug companies turn all talk of cutting prices into visions of an apocalypse. ``Price controls have been tried numerous times over the past 4,000 years but have never worked,'' the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America reports. ``Instead, they produce shortages and black markets. Price controls on oil and natural gas in the 1970s led to widespread artificial shortages and long lines at the gasoline pump. Price controls on rental property led to housing shortages and the deterioration and neglect of existing housing.

``Price controls would discourage investment in drug research. ... Unless there is a possibility of a …