Democratic presidential candidate and California Sen. Kamala Harris released a plan to lower prescription drug prices that threatens Big Pharmas profits if the industry does not bring U.S. prices into line with those in other developed nations.

The proposals most ambitious feature empowers the Department of Health and Human Services to set a price for prescription drugs whose prices grow faster than inflation or that are sold for less in another country that belongs to the wealthy Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. (The average American spends hundreds of dollars more per year on prescription drugs than her counterpart in the costliest European nation .)

The price would be no higher than the average price of the drug in other OECD countries. If a pharmaceutical company chooses to nonetheless set the price at a higher rate, the federal government would tax 100% of every dollar made above the government-authorized rate and return the money to consumers.

Were really happy to see Sen. Harris put in place a system that would ensure we are not paying more than comparable countries, said Steve Knievel, an advocate in the Access to Medicines program at the liberal consumer advocacy group Public Citizen. It really does have the contours of what a serious reform plan looks like.