Lowering health costs emerged as a major part of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2020 agenda earlier this month when he unveiled plans to get state government in the business of selling prescription drugs.

California would be the first state to create its own drug label, which would contract with existing manufacturers to produce lower-cost drugs. Newsom said he’s already in negotiations related to the plan.

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That’s where the government might have an advantage, said Michelle Mello, a professor of law and medicine at Stanford University.

“One of the reasons we don’t have more manufacturers of them is it’s really hard,” she said. “It’s plausible that a state entity might be more willing to take those risks on than a private company.”