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The state and national business community is warning against the negative consequences of the Biden administration鈥檚 plan to impose price controls on several medications under Medicare鈥檚 prescription drug coverage. The White House last week announced the first 10 drugs that will be subject to price caps.

The administration is selling its plan, which was included in the Inflation Reduction Act, as a way to save seniors money on their prescriptions, but Danny Seiden, president and CEO of the Arizona 暗网中文论坛of Commerce & Industry, says the White House is ignoring the negative effects their new price caps will have on innovation and access to new drugs and treatments.

鈥淧harmaceutical research, development, and manufacturing is an expensive, risky endeavor, with no guarantee of success,鈥� he said. 鈥淏y telling drugmakers that the government will determine whether they can recoup their investment is a recipe for these innovative companies to forego developing new products that could change 鈥� and even save 鈥� the lives of millions of people.鈥�

Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, reiterated NAM鈥檚 opposition to the plan.

鈥淭he pricing mandates released by the Department of Health and Human Services on groundbreaking medicines harm innovation and will slow the development of needed therapies and cures by hampering manufacturers鈥� ability to pioneer new drugs and treatments,鈥� he said. 鈥淎merica has led the way in medical and scientific breakthroughs to battle the most devastating and severe illnesses and conditions. There are so many more diseases for which we need to find a cure鈥攍ike cancer, juvenile diabetes and Alzheimer鈥檚 to name just three鈥攁nd this price control scheme threatens our ability to do so.鈥�

Mandates, not negotiation

Seiden and the Arizona 暗网中文论坛along with the Arizona Manufacturers Council have been expressing their opposition to government-imposed price controls since the Inflation Reduction Act was first introduced.

Seiden said the government鈥檚 characterization of the price controls as a 鈥渘egotiation鈥� fails to convey the negative effects they will have on patients.

鈥淐alling something a negotiation implies a level of give and take, but there鈥檚 none of that here. This is command and control,鈥� Seiden said. 鈥淧atients need to understand that when the government demands downward pressure on some drugs, pharmaceutical manufacturers will be forced to make up their loss by raising prices on other drugs or by downshifting their research and development of other therapies. For the White House to cast its plan as one with only winners ignores that many patients will find themselves on the losing end.鈥�

The latest example of pharmaceutical price controls from Washington

Seiden says the pharmaceutical price controls are just the latest example of Washington risking America鈥檚 place as a drug innovation leader.

Citing price concerns, the Biden administration also wants to use an existing law to force drugmakers to license their innovations to other companies. Under the law, known as the Bayh-Dole Act, however, the ability for the government to force additional licensure is strictly limited to only a few circumstances, of which price is not included.

鈥淭his administration鈥檚 willingness to misuse an existing law to force its pricing schemes on drugmakers is an affront to the patients whose lives depend on the groundbreaking innovations of our nation鈥檚 pharmaceutical companies,鈥� Seiden said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 as though this White House is perfectly comfortable with adopting a European-style drug pricing model, never mind that it鈥檚 been proven to lead to fewer new treatments and fewer clinical trials.鈥�

A U.S. House-Senate coalition in May on the Biden administration to withdraw its Bayh-Dole proposal, describing it as a 鈥渞adical departure鈥� from 鈥減recedent under both Republican and Democratic presidents.鈥�

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