What Patients Need to Know

About the Inflation Reduction Act’s Healthcare Provisions

How Government Price-Setting Hurts Patients

Enacted in 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) jeopardizes drug development and patient access to critical treatments, notably through its Medicare “price negotiation” provision, which is effectively government price-setting. Europe’s experience with similar policies led to a collapse in drug development and worse health outcomes including significantly higher cancer mortality rates. Consequently, numerous patient advocacy groups are opposing the implementation of government price-setting in the U.S.

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400,000 more deaths each year

If U.S. cancer patients had European cancer death rates

60% of new drugs

are developed in the U.S.

90% of new medicines

are available to U.S. patients within the first year of launch

Latest News

CMS Doubles Down on Medicare Drug Price Controls, Threatening Patient Access and Innovation

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced an additional 15 drugs that will be subject to price controls under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). This expansion continues a flawed policy that threatens innovation and jeopardizes patient access to critical treatments, including drugs vital for cancer treatment and popular new weight loss medications that have transformed the management of obesity and related conditions.

ASBM Comments to CMS Opposing IRA’s Medicare Part D Redesign

“It is ASBM’s position that patients should have access to innovative medicines, and that biosimilars are an important tool to expand access by creating cost savings through market competition.”

Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act Unravels Medicare Part D

Here are four reasons Medicare drug-price “negotiation” in NJ isn’t truly a negotiation.

How IRA Price Setting Disccourages Biosimilar Development

The Inflation Reduction Act’s First Potential Impact on Biosimilars

“ASBM fears that the downstream effects of broad government price setting will ultimately reduce consumers’ choice of plans and formularies in Part D—aspects considered to be hallmarks of the program.”

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ASBM/GaBI Webinar- Medicare Drug Price Negotiation: Impacts on Innovation and Patient Access

In the NEws

Doubling Down On Drug Price Controls Could Hurt Patients

In the drug space, sources ranging from the Congressional Budget Office and analytics firms to university economists, and health-industry analysts warn that IRA price setting will also deter crucial investments in research and development, resulting in fewer new medicines.

International BUsiness Times | Joel White – View onLINE

Relay Therapeutics Pauses Lirafugratinib Rare Cancer Plans Due to IRA

Relay Therapeutics announced plans Thursday to shift gears, pausing its push for rare cancer and switching focus to the larger tumor-agnostic market. The Boston-based biotech is pointing to the Inflation Reduction Act as a driving factor of its decision.

Biospace | Kate Goodwin – View onLINE

Life Sciences Masters Panelists Warn of IRA Impact on Innovation

IPWatchdog’s Life Sciences Masters 2023 concluded today, following three days of panels that tackled some of the most pressing issues facing intellectual property professionals in the life sciences space.

IP Watchdog | Eileen McDermott – View onLINE

Kenneth E. Thorpe: Pill penalty will devastate cancer research

The Biden administration just announced a new initiative to improve cancer outcomes in low-income communities across the United States. It’s sorely needed. Research shows cancer mortality is more than 10 percent higher in communities experiencing persistent poverty compared to those that aren’t.

Hartford Courant | Kenneth E. Thorpe – View on Press Reader

Amend law to combat skyrocketing colorectal cancer rates (opinion)

Drug-pricing rules in Inflation Reduction Act will stymie efforts to develop new treatments.

Reading Eagle | Andrew Spiegel

Merck Sues to Stop the IRA's 'Extortion'

If an assailant points a gun at your head and threatens to shoot if you don’t hand over your wallet, is that a negotiation? This describes the Inflation Reduction Act’s Medicare drug-price scheme, which Merck & Co. claims is “extortion” and unconstitutional in a compelling lawsuit filed Tuesday. Merck v. Becerra may be destined for the Supreme Court.

WSJ | Editorial Board

Drug shortages: a multifaceted problem

The number of backordered medicines in Sweden increased by over 50 per cent in 2022. Drug shortages, which are major problems across the EU, have led to a lively debate on how the region can ensure a stable flow of essential medicines. Right now, all EU countries’ medicines agencies are meeting in Malmö to discuss how to resolve the situation.

BioStock | Staff

Mitigating the Inflation Reduction Act’s Adverse Impacts on the Prescription Drug Market

The purported goal of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022 is to lower healthcare costs for Americans.

USC Schaeffer | Dana Goldman, PhD, Joseph Grogan, JD,Darius Lakdawalla, PhD,Barry Liden, JD,Jason Shafrin, PhD,Kyi-Sin Than, MPHandErin Trish, PhD

The Ultimate Price Of Government Price Controls

Democrats have nudged the U.S. healthcare system closer to Canadian-style socialism with their recently signed, and dubiously named, Inflation Reduction Act.

Forbes | Sally Pipes

Resources

Learn more about IRA price controls and spread the word with these print and digital materials.

Emerging Value in Oncology

July 2023
How ongoing research expands the benefits of oncology medicines

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Lilly Sidelined Three Drugs Due To IRA, CEO Ricks Says

Eli Lilly & Co. CEO David Ricks highlighted how Medicare drug price negotiation policies are already impacting R&D investment during a J.P. Morgan investor call.