Prescription Drug Socialism Puts American Innovation On Chopping Block

Floor Speech

"Next week, America's world-leading medical innovation sector will face their first deadline in the Biden Administration's push for prescription drug socialism.

Under Washington Democrats' so-called Inflation Reduction Act, the companies behind certain major treatments for seniors for everything from arthritis to diabetes to cancer will have to choose by the end of next week whether to enter into a so-called "negotiation program' run by federal bureaucrats, pay an excessive fine, or take their drugs off the market.

Well, Mr. President, the devil is in the details. Unsurprisingly, Democrats intend for this "negotiation' to be anything but. It turns out the IRA empowers the Biden Administration to reject any counteroffer during the process, and thus arbitrarily set the maximum price to whatever number the bureaucrats choose.

Now, the Biden administration claims that this policy will save consumers money and lead to cheaper treatments. But this couldn't be further from the truth. In reality, this so-called "negotiation' with unelected bureaucrats will ensure that fewer lifesaving treatments make it to market in the first place.

I was very proud to have worked alongside then Vice-President Biden on his Cancer-Moonshot Initiative and the 21st Century Cures Act in 2016. Unfortunately, by one estimate, the Biden Administration's own price-fixing scheme would destroy nearly nine times as much funding for cancer research as that legislation back in 2016 provided by eliminating incentives for drug companies to invest in R&D.

Already, several companies announced last year that they were discontinuing research into treatments for cancer and other diseases due to concerns about the impact of Washington Democrats' regulation.

The Biden Administration wants to dry up the world's most prolific pipeline of lifesaving cures. The American people deserve better than prescription drug socialism."

Source