House Republican leaders warned Thursday that the Biden-Harris plan for drug price negotiations “put at risk” America’s dominant position as a global leader in new drug development.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN), and House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY) issued a joint statement after the Biden-Harris Administration announced the results of its drug price negotiation plan, as required by the Stop Inflation Act. Essentially, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) selected 10 drugs covered under Medicare Part D to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies, and the Biden-Harris Administration claimed that these 10 drugs would save $6 billion.
Joe Grogan, former director of Trump’s Domestic Policy Council, told Breitbart News that the negotiated savings figures were “total bullshit.”
Many outlets etc. POLITICO He noted that it may be hard for the Harris campaign to tout these so-called savings as a win, because pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), rebates, out-of-pocket caps and other aspects already drive down prescription drug prices. The savings the Biden-Harris campaign touts are those gained by negotiating prices down from the list price of drugs, and Americans don’t pay the list price for drugs.
House Republican Leadership Claimed They say the negotiating system, like any price-fixing system, is unworkable and could jeopardize America’s ability to be a leader in drug production.
Two years after Congressional Democrats’ failed inflation expansion bill was passed, Americans are still feeling the disastrous effects the legislation has had across the economy.
One of the most egregious provisions of this law is its requirement that bureaucrats artificially set prices for prescription drugs, which has already done immeasurable damage to the American health care system: Patients face fewer choices, higher prices, and fewer treatments, while the American pharmaceutical industry, which currently leads the world in new drug development, now stands in danger of losing its competitive advantage globally.
Don’t get me wrong: price fixing has failed in every sector and in every country it has ever been tried in. The Biden-Harris Administration says it wants to lower prices for families, but its prescription drug price fixing plan has accomplished only two things: raising the cost of health care and destroying American innovation in health care.
The Ways and Means Committee, led by Chairman Jason Smith (R-Missouri), Documented The Inflation Control Act has in many ways limited America’s ability to create the next generation of cures.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) states, [IRA’s drug provisions] “Launching prices for medicines that are not yet on the market will be higher than they would be otherwise.”
“IRAs are a disincentive to pursuing follow-on indications for orphan drugs. Historically, that has been the model. Some of the best therapies today are being repurposed for different indications than their original,” Arcutys Therapeutics CEO Frank Watanabe said at a committee hearing in July. “That’s exactly why companies are not pursuing follow-on indications. [of] “IRA is grateful for every day that new innovation is not developed for people living with rare diseases. As long as these impediments exist, every day that new innovation is not developed for people living with rare diseases will continue.”
Dr. Darius Lakdawala of the University of Southern California’s Schaffer School of Medicine said at the May 10 hearing, “It may reduce innovation in rare diseases because follow-on indications may be penalized by the IRA, and it may also reduce incentives for innovation in general. But it’s worth noting that rare diseases often have very high unmet patient need. And as an economist, I would say that because patients’ health outcomes are so poor, the value of improved health outcomes is high. Even relatively small improvements in health outcomes are very valuable.”
The Ways and Means Committee also noted that a University of Chicago study found that IRAs would:
- 135 fewer new drugs
- 188 fewer new indications
- Innovative research and development spending falls by $663 billion
As the Vital Transformation study states:
- Biopharmaceutical direct employment declined by 135,900
- 676,000 jobs lost across the U.S.
- 70% of clinical trials are run by small businesses
Chairman Jason Smith explained in a statement on Thursday:
The truth is that while Joe Biden and Kamala Harris celebrate their victory today, tomorrow’s seniors will have health care that is too expensive to afford, only the wealthiest Americans will be able to afford new treatments, and future cures will never reach those who need them. In the two years since Democrats passed the IRA, research and development of new drugs has already begun to slow, and these price controls, if firmly implemented, will have an even greater negative impact on drug access and innovation.
“The Ways and Means Committee will continue to fight to ensure that American patients, not federal bureaucrats, get to decide the future of their health care,” he added.
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter. Sean Moran 3.
