WASHINGTON, D.C. — Just days after patients won a critical victory to keep the ORPHAN Cures Act out of the Senate reconciliation bill text, lawmakers have reinserted this harmful, pharma-backed proposal into the proposed final text. P4ADNow is calling on Congress to remove the ORPHAN Cures Act once and for all and protect the historic Medicare negotiation program that patients fought to secure.

“Patients are infuriated to see the Senate cave to Big Pharma by reviving the ORPHAN Cures Act at the eleventh hour,” said Merith Basey, Executive Director of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now. “This is a blatant giveaway to the pharmaceutical industry that would keep drug prices high for patients while draining $5 billion in taxpayer dollars. We call on lawmakers to remove this unnecessary provision immediately and stand with an overwhelming majority of Americans who want the Medicare Negotiation program to go further. Medicare negotiation will deliver huge savings for seniors and taxpayers; this bill would undermine that progress.” 

The ORPHAN Cures Act would create a new loophole allowing some of the most profitable drugs with multiple orphan indications to avoid price negotiation under Medicare, even as they generate massive sales. The CBO estimates this carveout would cost taxpayers nearly $5 billion over the next decade while diminishing the popular and effective Medicare negotiation program that is poised to deliver savings to millions of seniors starting next year.

P4ADNow patient advocates have sent over 13,000 letters to Congress demanding lawmakers reject the ORPHAN Cures Act, met with legislative offices, spoke out publicly, and talked to the media to make it clear that patients should not have to pay more just to pad pharma’s bottom line. Once again, patients are mobilizing to push back against this dangerous provision.

P4ADNOW urges Congress to protect patients and taxpayers by removing the ORPHAN Cures Act from the reconciliation package now.

### 
Patients For Affordable Drugs Now, is the only national, patient advocacy organization focused exclusively on policies to lower drug prices. We empower and mobilize patients and allies, hold accountable those in power, and fight to shape and achieve system-changing policies that make prescription drugs affordable for all people in the United States. P4ADNow is bipartisan and does not accept funding from organizations that profit from the development or distribution of prescription drugs. To learn more visit; PatientsForAffordableDrugsNOW.org.