Initial drug-price-setting guidance risks making bad policy worse,

harming patients, caregivers

Washington, D.C. — Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-MO), and Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee Mike Crapo (R-ID), raised concerns with the Biden administration’s initial drug price-setting program implementation guidance document.

In a letter to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Becerra and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Brooks-LaSure, the members note the guidance will deter product improvements for existing drugs, discourage public-private partnerships, weaken intellectual property protections, and fail to provide stakeholders with adequate transparency. These provisions will ultimately serve to make bad policy worse, which will harm patients, caregivers, and practitioners across the United States for generations.

From the letter:

“We write to express disappointment and concern with recent implementation guidance for the drug price-setting provisions included in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA, Pub. L. 117-169). This guidance exacerbates the law’s statutory flaws and compounds the profound uncertainty and risk posed by the legislation’s sweeping drug price controls.

“The Administration’s guidance clearly values government power and overreach above precedent and statute, at the expense of patients seeking potentially life-saving treatments.

“We urge you to work diligently and quickly to address these and other issues as you begin implementing this far-reaching new price control program. The preliminary decisions made through this initial guidance process, if carried out without greater reflection and input from the public, will have dire consequences for American patients for decades to come.” 

CLICK HERE to read the full letter.