Admin. Takes Another Step Toward Prescription Drug Socialism
‘If bureaucrats get the final say on how American producers market lifesaving cures… then America will cease to be the world-leading hub of medical innovation.’
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding prescription drug socialism:
“Last week, the Biden Administration announced the latest front in its push for prescription drug socialism: march-in rights.
“Here’s what it means: Washington bureaucrats are claiming the authority to determine price ranges for drugs funded through public-private partnerships. And if these unelected regulators decide that a company has set its price too high, they will steal the company’s intellectual property rights.
“In President Biden’s own words, ‘the government reserves the right to ‘march in’ and license that drug to another manufacturer who could sell it for less.’
“To make matters worse, the Biden Administration claims that the authority for this power grab comes from a 1980 law designed to promote the exact opposite outcome. The purpose of the Bayh-Dole Act was to encourage private-public cooperation to drive innovation in medicine – not the other way around.
“The truth is, incentives matter. If Washington bureaucrats get the final say on how American producers market lifesaving cures… then America will cease to be the world-leading hub of medical innovation.
“Why would any entrepreneur invest the time and resources to create a new treatment if the government can simply steal their intellectual property and redistribute it?
“Unsurprisingly, the Biden Administration is still working out the kinks of prescription drug socialism. But the medical innovation sector can’t afford to wait before reconsidering its investments.
“Neither, for that matter, can a whole host of other industries that rely on public-private partnerships.
“Just think about what it could mean in fast-evolving areas of technology.
“Under the model of prescription drug socialism, the Biden Administration is laying the groundwork for government patent seizure on other cutting-edge technologies – from semiconductors to nuclear energy.
“So Mr. President, America’s pipeline of lifesaving cures is the envy of the world. American entrepreneurs and researchers save millions of lives.
“If President Biden wants to march in on this innovation sector, the bright minds behind it just might decide to take their intellectual property and march on out of the American market.”
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Related Issues: Health Care
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