Virginia Voters Give Warner A Clear Mandate For Drug Pricing Reform in 2021

WASHINGTON, D.C. — After campaigning on the promise to lower drug prices, Mark Warner successfully won re-election to the U.S. Senate. Throughout the campaign, Warner vowed to allow Medicare to negotiate directly for lower prices. With his victory comes a clear mandate from voters for the senator to stand with patients and rein in prescription drug prices in 2021.

“Senator Warner’s victory proves what we have heard from voters across the country: Patients want elected officials who will fight to lower drug prices,” said David Mitchell, a cancer patient and the founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now. “Warner’s promise to deliver meaningful drug pricing reform is a commitment we will hold him to as he joins the 117th Congress. Patients can’t wait any longer.”

Warner, whose daughter has juvenile diabetes, ran ads elevating the issue of drug pricing and highlighting his support of legislation that would allow for Medicare negotiation, put an end to pharmaceutical price gouging, and cap out-of-pocket costs in Medicare. Voters took Warner’s commitment to the polls, delivering him a clear victory.

In the lead-up to Nov. 3, Virginians like Candice Brown from Alexandria shared their stories to spotlight the struggle Virginia residents face affording prescription drugs. “I’ve been on Entyvio for the last year. The only caveat is it’s $6,700 a month. No one can afford that. This drug pricing system was not meant to benefit me as a patient. It was meant to benefit Big Pharma.”

Candice’s ad was a part of a national campaign launched by Patients For Affordable Drugs Now featuring TV, radio, and digital ads alongside grassroots tools that gave patient advocates the power to engage with candidates on the issue of drug prices.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, nearly 9 out of 10 voters named lowering prescription drug prices a top health care issue deciding their 2020 presidential vote. Nationwide, 35 percent of voters said drug pricing is among their most important voting issues, according to Gallup.

P4ADNow is an independent, bipartisan patient organization focused on advancing policies to lower drug prices. It does not accept funding from any organizations that profit from the development or distribution of prescription drugs.

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