ICYMI: Experts Debunk Ever-Bigger Drug Industry Lies As Congress Gets Closer To Passing Monumental Drug Price Reforms

New Reporting Exposes Big Pharma’s Lies On Inflation, Medicare Savings, And Generic Competition

WASHINGTON, D.C. —As Congress is poised to pass the largest health care bill since the Affordable Care Act, Big Pharma is using every scare tactic possible to try to stop the Inflation Reduction Act from passing. This week, independent experts debunked the industry’s lies about the drug price provisions’ impact on innovation, Medicare savings, and generic competition.

Here’s a round-up:  

1. Inflation: Big Pharma falsely claims “prescription drug prices are not fueling inflation.”

• This claim relies on false data that bundles generic and brand-name hikes. A new report from the non-profit, nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget found that the economic impact of the drug price reforms would be “very deflationary,” underscoring the contribution of rising drug prices to inflation and highlighting how lower prices will fight inflation.
• A letter released this week by 126 top economists also concludes that the drug price provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act will put “downward pressure on inflation.”

2. Medicare Savings: Big Pharma falsely claims the bill will “strip $300 billion from Medicare.”

• The nonpartisan Committee For Responsible Federal Budget released a report this week that called the ads “misleading” and showed the government would save nearly $300 billion while improving benefits and saving patients and taxpayers billions. 
• According to the Congressional Budget Office, the drug price measures will save Medicare, taxpayers, and patients nearly $300 billion by lowering drug prices and reining in spending. Both the Washington Post and Kaiser Health News with Politifact debunked this claim earlier this summer. 

3. Generic Competition: The drug industry falsely claims that the bill will make less-expensive generic drugs less likely to come to market.

• An Axios article explains that the Medicare negotiation provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act actually promote generic and biosimilar competition by disincentivizing the brand-drug company patent gaming that blocks competition and keeps prices high. A brand-name drug is only eligible for negotiation if it does not face generic competition, encouraging generics to come to market and use market forces to drive down drug prices. 

For more on debunking pharma, check out these resources. 

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