Welcome to the Week in Review.
Expanding Medicare Negotiation with the SMART Prices Act
The Strengthening Medicare and Reducing Taxpayer (SMART) Prices Act has been re-introduced by Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Peter Welch (D-VT) — legislation that will expand Medicare price negotiation and strengthen HHS’ tools to lower prescription drug prices. One in three Americans can’t afford their prescription drugs, and we hear from patients every day who are rationing medication or skipping doses because of high drug costs. The SMART Prices Act builds on the 2022 prescription drug law’s historic drug price reforms by increasing the number of drugs subject to Medicare negotiation — a proposal that has broad support from Americans on both sides of the aisle. Patients For Affordable Drugs NOW endorses this legislation, and we support efforts to expand Medicare negotiation to secure a better deal for even more Americans. — [Senator Klobuchar, Senator Welch]
Trump’s “Most Favored Nation” Proposal Keeps Moving
The administration’s “Most Favored Nation” (MFN) policy begins to take shape this week, with President Trump tapping CMS administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz to lead the negotiations process. Americans pay the highest drug prices in the world, and international reference pricing frameworks like MFN are worth exploring — but only if they’re done right. The policy must meaningfully lower prescription drug prices for U.S. patients, without driving up costs in other countries or creating new loopholes for drug companies to exploit. This also means a policy that’s developed in conjunction with Congress to ensure reference prices are enforceable and stand up to legal scrutiny. P4ADNow will continue monitoring as this policy develops. — [Endpoints News, BioSpace, JAMA Health Forum, Axios]
RFK Jr. vs. Big Pharma’s TV Ads
The U.S. and New Zealand are the only two countries in the world that allow direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising by drug manufacturers. HHS Secretary RFK Jr. has long criticized this practice, and his renewed calls to ban pharma ads from TV gained fresh attention this week. Making matters worse, taxpayers are subsidizing these ads through a longstanding tax break that has allowed Big Pharma to flood the airwaves for years. Earlier this month, Senators Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) introduced the bipartisan and P4ADNow-endorsed No Handouts for Drug Advertisements Act, which would eliminate that tax break — a common-sense step toward curbing pharma’s outsized influence. — [X.com, Bloomberg, Senator Hawley]
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