WASHINGTON, D.C. — Patients For Affordable Drugs Now today announced the launch of a campaign aimed at members of the House of Representatives who are threatening to block Medicare negotiation bill H.R. 3, calling on them to support the legislation that would lower drug prices for Americans. The new six-figure push begins on July 2 and includes TV ads, digital ads, and grassroots advocacy, in which patients will write and call their members of Congress directly asking them to support plans to allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices — a policy supported by 90 percent of Americans. The new campaign will address Reps. David Valadao (CA-21), Scott Peters (CA-52), Richard Hudson (NC-08), and Kurt Schrader (OR-05), all of whom have refused to endorse H.R. 3.
“Reps. Valadao, Peters, Hudson, and Schrader have a choice — they can continue to do the bidding of Big Pharma, or they can stand with patients by supporting Medicare negotiation and H.R. 3,” said David Mitchell, a cancer patient and founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now. “Right now, it’s clear that the congressmen are choosing Big Pharma’s interests over the well-being of patients. As Therese Ball, a multiple sclerosis patient, says in the ad, ‘It’s unforgivable.’ Each of these elected officials can still do the right thing by endorsing H.R. 3, which will deliver the innovation we need at prices we can afford.”
All four members of Congress have refused to support H.R. 3, a bill that would allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices:
The campaign kicks off with ads featuring multiple sclerosis patient and registered nurse Therese Ball from Ogden Dunes, Indiana. To manage her symptoms, Ball is prescribed Tysabri, which is priced at $7,463 each month.
“As a nurse, I had patients who struggled to pay for their prescription drugs. When I was diagnosed with MS, I became one, too. The medications I need to live are priced at over $7,000 a month,” Ball, a grandmother and retired nurse, says in the video ads. “Members of Congress are choosing Big Pharma over patients. It’s unforgivable.”
Watch the ad for Rep. David Valadao (CA-21) here.
Watch the ad for Rep. Scott Peters (CA-52) here.
Watch the ad for Rep. Richard Hudson (NC-08) here.
Watch the ad for Rep. Kurt Schrader (OR-05) here.
P4ADNow launched its first campaign directed towards the 117th Congress on May 20. That campaign had a seven-figure budget and called for support of H.R. 3 in 42 House districts across 22 states and in D.C. It expanded this week, adding two more House districts. The campaign is, in part, a counterweight to Big Pharma’s attack ads loaded with lies about H.R. 3 and includes video ads, digital ads, and grassroots advocacy.
H.R. 3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act, was reintroducedin the House of Representatives in April. The chamber passed the bill in the 116th Congress. It will lower prices, rein in price gouging, and reduce out-of-pocket costs by restoring balance to the U.S. drug pricing system to ensure both innovation and affordability.
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NEW JERSEY — Patients For Affordable Drugs Now announced it will extend its campaign thanking Reps. Andy Kim (NJ-03), Tom Malinowski (NJ-07), and Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11) for supporting H.R. 3, and calling on Rep. Josh Gottheimer (NJ-05) to support the bill that would lower drug prices by allowing Medicare to negotiate on behalf of New Jerseyans. The new phase of the campaign will start July 2 and will include digital video ads as well as grassroots advocacy, in which constituents will directly contact Reps. Kim, Malinowski, Sherrill, and Gottheimer to ask them to stand with patients against Big Pharma.
“H.R. 3 will ensure New Jerseyans have access to affordable medicine while protecting innovation for the future,” said David Mitchell, a cancer patient and founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now. “Patients need Rep. Gottheimer to stand up to Big Pharma and join Reps. Kim, Malinowski, and Sherrill in pushing for this important legislation to lower the price of prescription drugs for Americans.”
The expanded push will include new video ads highlighting Steven Hadfield, a patient from Charlotte, North Carolina, who lives with a rare blood cancer and is prescribed a medication priced at $132,000 a year. The ads thank Reps. Kim and Malinowski for supporting H.R. 3 and urge constituents to ask them to keep fighting for lower drug prices.
“I’ve been fighting it for seven years,” Steven says in the ads playing on digital platforms. “$132,000. That’s the annual price for my cancer medication. I live in fear over my high drug prices. You wonder how everybody else survives.”
You can watch the video ad in NJ-03 here.
You can watch the video ad in NJ-07 here.
The following digital ad will run in NJ-11 to thank Rep. Sherrill for standing with patients and to remind her to push for passage of H.R. 3.
The following digital ad will run in NJ-05 to urge Rep. Gottheimer to stand with patients and push for passage of H.R. 3.
P4ADNow’s campaign to support H.R. 3 was first launched on May 20 on the heels of Big Pharma’s attack ads loaded with lies, pressuring members of Congress not to support H.R. 3.
H.R. 3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act, was reintroduced in the House of Representatives in April. The chamber passed the bill in the 116th Congress. It will lower prices, rein in price gouging, and reduce out-of-pocket costs by restoring balance to the U.S. drug pricing system to ensure both innovation and affordability.
The New Jersey campaign is part of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now’s national campaign across 44 House districts.
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WASHINGTON, D.C. — The following statement was issued by David Mitchell, cancer patient and founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now, in response to Chairs Maloney and Pallone’s announcement that the House Committee on Oversight and Reform and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce will investigate the approval and pricing of Biogen’s Alzheimer’s drug, Aduhelm:
“Once again, Chairs Maloney and Pallone are taking the lead in fighting for patients by investigating the ‘steep price of Biogen’s new Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm and the process that led to its approval despite questions about the drug’s clinical benefit.’
“As patients, we are eager for new treatments for Alzheimer’s and other diseases with unmet need, but a price of $56,000 is simply, as the Alzheimer’s Association puts it, ‘unacceptable.’ Aduhelm is the poster child demonstrating the need for H.R. 3 and Medicare negotiation to curb the unilateral power of drug corporations to set prices as high as they think they can get away with. We are very grateful to Chairs Maloney and Pallone for their continued leadership in support of innovation patients need at prices we can afford.”
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