CAPD Statement on Speaker Pelosi’s Drug Pricing Proposal
Today, Debra Barrett, Executive Director of the Coalition for Affordable Prescription Drugs, released the following statement on the release of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s drug pricing plan:
“We applaud Speaker Pelosi’s leadership and commitment to addressing sky-high prices of prescription drugs through solutions aimed at the root cause: the prices set and arbitrarily raised by drug companies.
“CAPD believes that any policy proposals aimed at addressing high drug prices should start at the source of the problem: the high and rising prices that Big Pharma sets for their drugs. Congress should also preserve the ability of employers, plans and PBMs to work together to bring costs down across the system and help provide affordable medicine for patients.
“Expensive brand drugs – many of which lack competition – are costing seniors, taxpayers and employers billions of dollars, as a recent CAPD report demonstrates. PBMs are driving meaningful savings for patients and employers through tough negotiation with drug companies, but these negotiations are most effective when competing drugs are available. As Congress continues its work to address the issue of high drug prices, we encourage them to look for ways to provide more timely generic and biosimilar competition. We believe that this is the fastest and most effective way to lower drug prices for patients.