WASHINGTON, D.C. — Patients For Affordable Drugs Now released a new digital ad in support of the Department of Health and Human Services’ proposal to adopt an International Pricing Index to lower drug prices in Medicare Part B.

Watch the video here.
 
Under the proposal, Medicare would pay only 26 percent more than other wealthy countries for drugs administered by physicians or in hospital settings — that’s compared to the 80 percent more it pays today. But Big Pharma is attacking the International Pricing Index because the changes could actually rein in outrageous drug prices.
 
In a new video, cancer patient and Patients For Affordable Drugs Now founder David Mitchell debunks the myths that drug corporations are spreading about the International Pricing Index. Mitchell points out that, under the changes, his drug prices would drop by $100,000, and his access to life-sustaining treatment would remain exactly the same.

“There’s a bipartisan plan in Washington that would lower the price of my drugs by $100,000,” Mitchell says in the video. “ But Big Pharma has mobilized its message machine, lobbying furiously and spending millions to stop it. Pharma says it will stifle innovation, allow government bureaucrats to control my health care, block my access to these drugs. None of that is true.”
 
The video release is part of a nationwide, nearly $1 million campaign in support of the International Pricing Index that includes ads on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Google. The ads urge Americans to contact their senators and representatives in support of the proposed changes.
 
According to a recent poll, voters support the HHS proposal to lower drug prices by a 71-point margin (80 percent support vs. 9 percent oppose). Majorities from both parties agree that Democrats and Republicans in Congress should support the proposal.
 
Importantly, Americans find Big Pharma’s claim that the proposed reforms would hinder patient access to be wrong. Eight in 10 voters believe the proposal will result in better care or have no impact on the care they receive. That’s bolstered by the fact that nine out of 10 big pharmaceutical companies actually spend more on advertising and marketing than on research and development, according to The Washington Post. There is no evidence the proposed Part B changes would impact patient access to drugs unless drug corporations withhold drugs from patients.
 
TRANSCRIPT

I have incurable blood cancer.
 
The drugs keeping me alive are priced at $325,000 a year.
 
There’s a bipartisan plan in Washington that would lower the price of my drugs by $100,000.
 
But Big Pharma has mobilized its message machine, lobbying furiously and spending millions to stop it. 
 
Pharma says it will stifle innovation, allow government bureaucrats to control my health care, block my access to these drugs. 
 
None of that is true.
 
The truth is the International Pricing Index keeps all the protections we now have to ensure access to these drugs.
 
It just brings the prices we pay in the US more in line with what other countries pay. 
 
We can’t let Big Pharma and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce with their millions of dollars of high-powered lobbyists stop this proposal from taking effect that would help so many Americans.
 
Tell your members of Congress to support the International Pricing Index. 

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