The pharmaceutical lobby strongly opposed the Biden administration’s plan to directly negotiate drug prices for 10 medications with Medicare. PhRMA argued this will hurt innovation, but advocates note that drug companies make 76% more than needed for R&D. Eliquis, which costs Medicare over $16 billion, will be subject to negotiations. The policy was enabled by the Inflation Reduction Act, which PhRMA spent millions lobbying against. PhRMA sued over the negotiations, but the DOJ moved to dismiss the case. Advocates believe this defeat of Big Pharma will not be the last as negotiations may expand to over 100 drugs in the future, greatly helping seniors and people with disabilities access affordable medications.

  • @[email protected]
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    202 years ago

    PhRMA argued this will hurt innovation

    Hmph. That would require there to be innovation to hurt.

      • coyotino [he/him]
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        62 years ago

        Seriously. Why should we care about innovation if it only produces solutions for the wealthy?

    • @[email protected]
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      72 years ago

      They’re innovating how to make the smallest, least significant tweaks to their chemical formulas to extend patents another 20 years.