To the Editor:
America’s world-class life sciences industry deserves kudos for the progress we’ve made since Covid came ashore. Within a year of scientists discovering the novel coronavirus, vaccines began to protect us from the worst pandemic since the Spanish flu killed millions a century ago.
As the fight against Covid’s Delta variant goes on, our vaccines have continued to prove their value. Recent studies have demonstrated that vaccinated individuals are 29 times less likely to end up in the hospital with Covid. Therapeutics that can help nip Covid in the bud are also on the way.
The life sciences industry depends on a policy environment that fosters innovation, but right now, congressional Democrats are speeding forward with legislation that would upend this ecosystem.
The marketing pitch for this effort – that Medicare should “negotiate” drug prices – has obvious appeal. Trips to the pharmacy are far too expensive, but the text of the bill makes clear that lawmakers are redefining “negotiations” to mean price controls.
In fact, the House spending package explicitly caps the prices of popular, brand-name medicines at 120% of the average price paid across six other nations.
This is a price control measure. As such, it would inevitably reduce access to medicines today and drive investors away from backing risky research projects, curtailing the development of tomorrow’s cutting-edge drugs.
This should worry everyone in the Garden State. New Jersey is the heart of America’s life sciences industry, home to 13 of the top 20 pharmaceutical companies. About one in two new FDA-approved drugs originates here.
Garden Staters know how expensive and time-consuming it is – and that for every blockbuster drug, there are dozens of market flops and outright failures.
The U.S. has long fostered policies that support medical innovation by rewarding investment. Today, an estimated two in three new medicines are developed in the U.S.
American researchers are why we have cutting-edge cancer medicines, a vaccine for cervical cancer, and a cure for Hepatitis C – and why an HIV diagnosis is no longer a death sentence.
The medical breakthroughs during the pandemic are opening new doors for future cures. Researchers are optimistic that the mRNA technology used in the vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer could be deployed, before long, against Alzheimer’s, ALS, and certain types of cancers.
Enacting policies that would virtually eliminate any chance of a financial return on successful new medicines would make it difficult – if not impossible – for researchers exploring new treatments for hemophilia, sickle cell, Alzheimer’s, and other diseases that lack effective treatments to attract research funding.
Price controls would also reduce access to the most advanced medicines. For proof, just look at the drug benefit administered by Veterans Affairs. It has a restrictive formulary and often requires veterans to “fail” on older, less expensive drugs before moving to newer, more expensive ones.
Indeed, Xcenda recently looked at the 200 most-popular medicines on Medicare’s drug benefit – and found that while Medicare covered 74% of them, the VA covered just 52% of them. It’s no wonder why eight in 10 veterans have supplemental drug coverage.
There’s no doubt that there are many problems with our current health care system, but there are ways to make drugs affordable without stifling innovation and preventing people from accessing lifesaving cures.
ED. NOTE: The author is the host of “MoneyTalk with Melanie,” which is distributed by SHR Media. She has served as a member of the Middle Township Zoning Board and Cape May County Advisory Commission on the Status of Women.
