Democrats Vote For Socialist Price Controls, Which Will Starve Americans Of Life-Saving Medications

Democrats Would Impose Socialist Price Controls On Our Pharmaceutical Industry, Which Would Result In Fewer Life-Saving Medications

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL EDITORIAL BOARD: “The Schumer-Manchin deal is also a raid on drug companies. The bill will require the Health and Human Services Secretary to ‘negotiate’ Medicare prices—i.e., impose price controls—for dozens of drugs. But the $288 billion in putative savings are fanciful. Manufacturers will hedge potential future losses by launching drugs at higher prices. Generic manufacturers say price controls will dampen their incentive to develop copycats, which will result in higher prices for all drugs down the road. The bill will also discourage investment in innovative treatments that could reduce future healthcare spending.” (Editorial, “The Schumer-Manchin Tax and Subsidy Pact,” The Wall Street Journal, 7/28/2022)

• “There is no negotiation when the government points a gun at your head. The deal would slap companies with a 95% excise tax on their sales if the government claims they aren’t negotiating in good faith. Drug makers won’t even be able to challenge the government price control—deemed the ‘maximum fair price’—in an administrative appeal or court. This drug-pricing non-fix would cause prices to rise faster by discouraging development of new generics. Medicare’s negotiated prices also won’t apply to privately insured patients. They will likely get stuck paying higher prices to offset the so-called savings that drug makers would be required to give Medicare, which will go toward subsidizing green-energy. Worse, the deal would discourage investment in new treatments. Which would most Americans rather have: more life-saving treatments or rooftop solar panels? The first rule of medicine is do no harm. The same should go for legislation.” (Editorial, “A Price That Isn’t Soaring: Prescription Drugs”, The Wall Street Journal, 7/14/2022)

‘This Bill Will Decimate The Hope Of Curing Cancer And Other Deadly Diseases’

“‘This bill will decimate the hope of curing cancer and other deadly diseases,’ Stephen Ubl, president and chief executive officer of PhRMA … said at a forum on [July 27^th]. Faced with dwindling returns, drug companies would lack incentives to seek new uses for approved drugs, Ubl said. He added that ‘negotiating’ is a misnomer in the bill, because the ‘deck is stacked’ in the government’s favor with a proposed tax on the sale of medicine if manufacturers refused the government’s price. Michelle McMurry-Heath, president and chief executive of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, said in a news release this month the legislation ‘could propel us light-years back into the dark ages of biomedical research.’” (The Washington Post, 7/28/2022)

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MANUFACTURERS President and CEO Jay Timmons: “Government price controls on pharmaceutical manufacturers are no less destructive. They will weaken our ongoing work to develop lifesaving cures to complex diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s and harm our responses to health crises. It’s bad for Americans’ health. It’s wrong for our economy.” (National Association of Manufacturers, Press Release, 7/27/2022)

A University Of Chicago Study Of Democrats’ Plan Found That They Would Result In Hundreds Of Millions Of Lost Years Of Life And Significantly Fewer Innovative Medications

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO STUDY: “This issue brief reviews the evidence-base to assess the impact of HR 5376 on drug innovation and patient health. A large academic literature estimates the effect of future drug revenues on R&D spending and finds that on average that a 1 percent reduction in revenue leads to a 1.5 percent reduction in R&D activity. We find that HR 5376 will reduce revenues by 12.0 percent through 2039 and therefore that the evidence base predicts that R&D spending will fall about 18.5 percent, amounting to $663 billion. We find that this cut in R&D activity leads to 135 fewer new drugs. This drop in new drugs is predicted to generate a loss of 331.5 million life years in the US, 31 times as large as the 10.7 million life years lost from COVID-19 in the US to date. These estimated effects on the number of new drugs brought to market are 27 times larger than projected by CBO, which finds only 5 drugs will be lost through 2039, equaling a 0.63 percent reduction.” (Tomas J. Philipson And Troy Durie, “Issue Brief: The Impact Of HR 5376 On Biopharmaceutical Innovation And Patient Health,” The University Of Chicago, 11/29/2021)

SENATE REPUBLICAN LEADER MITCH McCONNELL (R-KY): “The entire world benefits from our genius, but in particular, the American people get first and fastest access to the latest new treatments, cures, and medical marvels. But the Democrats’ pursuit of prescription drug socialism could put all of it at risk. Arbitrary, top-down government price controls would dry out the wells of American innovation to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars in lost research and development. And American patients would feel the pain. The cost of breakthrough cures is measured in dollars, but the cost of neglecting them would be measured in lost years of American life.  One academic analysis pegged that true cost at a cumulative 331.5 million years. Let me say that again. One expert says the negative effects of Democrats’ proposal on medical research would cost a collective total of 331.5 million cumulative years of life. In other words, their proposal would eventually destroy as many years of Americans’ lives as there are Americans to live them.” (Sen. McConnell, Remarks, 7/25/2022)