FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 26, 2023
Washington, DC – We Work for Health (WWFH) issued the following statement Wednesday in response to the new legislation to expand prescription drug price controls included in the Inflation Reduction Act.
The Lowering Drug Costs for American Families Act (H.R. 4895) introduced by Representatives Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Richard E. Neal (D-MA), and Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA) would force government-mandated drug pricing on all Americans covered by commercial insurance plans and more than doubles the number of medications impacted.
“Doubling down on this misguided approach to prescription drug price controls would do little to help American families afford their medication – in contrast, they jeopardize sick patients’ access to cures and threaten jobs in one of America’s most vibrant industries,” said Dan Leonard, Executive Director, We Work For Health. “Before more damage is done, Congress must carefully review the IRA’s unintended impact like the ‘pill penalty’ and take corrective action. Failure to fix existing issues or, worse yet, piling on top of bad IRA policies will be devastating for patients waiting on lifesaving medicine.”
A recent We Work For Health-Vital Transformation study found that, if expansions of government-mandated drug pricing policies are implemented, like those included in H.R. 4895, there would be serious consequences around the development of and investment in new medicines, and significant job losses in major innovation hubs across a number of states.
Lost Therapies: More than 80 currently available therapies of 121 identified for price setting – approximately 70% – would likely not have been developed had the pricing provisions been in place prior to their development.
Lost Innovation: There would be 237 fewer FDA approvals of new medicines or new uses over a 10-year period. Impacts of the proposed policies will be felt most heavily in many areas of unmet need, particularly in oncology, neurology, and rare and infectious diseases.
Lost Jobs & Investment: This would result in a loss of 146,000-223,000 direct biopharmaceutical industry jobs and a total loss of 730,000-1,100,000 U.S. jobs across the economy. There would be loss of ecosystem investments into 50 different therapeutic indications, concentrated primarily in California, Massachusetts, and New York.
MEDIA INQUIRIES: media@weworkforhealth.org
About We Work For Health
Since 2007, We Work For Health (WWFH) has been bringing together national and local business leaders, labor, biopharma, patient advocacy, and other healthcare-related stakeholders. WWFH is dedicated to promoting policies and initiatives that not only foster innovation and facilitate the delivery of lifesaving or life-enhancing medicines, but also value both the workforce and significant contributions of the biopharmaceutical sector to economies at the national, state, and local levels.
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