Reject Dangerous Drug Price Control Legislation

Drug price controls could stand in the way of developing cures for some of the most challenging diseases. That’s why it’s crucial to reject dangerous proposals that would impose misguided price controls on medicines — while failing to address the actual price patients pay out of pocket at the pharmacy counter. 

These price controls could:

• Undercut innovation and stall the development of groundbreaking medicines. The tireless efforts of researchers and scientists in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have launched a new era of medicine that is bringing revolutionary and innovative treatments, therapies, and cures to patients. Imposing misguided drug price controls could have a chilling effect on innovation by discouraging research and development for treating the most challenging conditions and diseases.
   
• Fail to address the actual price that patients pay at the pharmacy counter. Many stakeholders, including insurers and Pharmacy Benefit Managers, are involved in determining what patients pay for prescription medicine. Most price control proposals ignore the role of these stakeholders and the high deductible and copay amounts that increase patients’ costs for life-saving medicines.
   
• Limit patients’ access to crucial medicines — as similar price controls have done in foreign countries.
   
• Harm the local economy. The biopharmaceutical industry is an essential driver of the local economy — an ecosystem of innovation that supports thousands of jobs and investments in economic output. These policies could cost thousands of jobs, slow economic growth, and harm patients who are counting on the next life-saving medical discovery.

Instead of imposing misguided price controls, policymakers should focus on reforms that protect medical innovation and create meaningful savings for patients — like strengthening market competition and ensuring that rebates are shared with patients at the pharmacy counter. As we have seen in other countries, drug price controls don’t preserve patients’ access to cures or support investments in innovation.