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.

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

Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program Guidance

ASBM supports policies which increase patient access to affordable, innovative medicines. We further believe that the perspectives of physicians and patients should be given particular weight during this process. Based on these principles, ASBM offers the following comments on CMS’ initial guidance for the Inflation Reduction Act’s Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program.

The Inflation Reduction Act – Implications for Biopharma Companies and Patients

“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.”

In the NEws

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.

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Media

KOL Conversation: The Impact of the IRA on Oncology Patient Care

Features an interview with Dr. Barbara L. McAneny, MD, FASCO, MACP Former President for the American Medical Association and the New Mexico Medical Society (NMMS); and currently CEO, New Mexico Cancer Center.

With Dr. Steve Potts CEO, Anticipate Bioscience
May 26, 2023