Ahead of WH Meeting: Don’t Be Fooled By Big Pharma’s Spin

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Big Pharma has spent millions of dollars on a full-court press to stop the Trump administration from implementing an International Pricing Index for one reason: The plan will lower drug prices in America. Today, industry lobbyists will meet with administration officials to press their case that Americans should continue to pay twice what other countries pay for drugs.

“We have no doubt the drug corporations will dust off their favorite scare tactics — like ‘rationing medicine,’ ‘reducing access,’ and ‘socialism,’” said David Mitchell, a cancer patient and the founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now. “But the claims are outrageous, offensive, and wrong.”

Here are the facts:

FACT CHECK: PhRMA’s False Claims About the Medicare Part B demonstration

MYTH #1: The Part B demonstration will restrict access to lifesaving drugs.
FACTS:

• All protected classes of drugs in Medicare will be maintained.
  • HHS: “We propose no changes to the Medicare benefit, just more discounts from drug companies.”
  • Bloomberg: “The aim is to drive down the cost of those medications by 30 percent.”
• There is no evidence the Part B demonstration would harm patient access to drugs unless drug corporations choose to withhold drugs from patients.
  • HHS: The proposal is to “lower drug prices—without any restrictions on patient access.”
• The Part B demonstration does nothing to slow the FDA approval process or change U.S. incentives for new drug approval.
  • Multinational drug corporations will still want early access to the largest market and higher prices in the U.S.
  • It would not change “regulatory incentives such as accelerated approval and priority review mechanisms” which Forbes points out play a key role in early approval in the U.S.
• Americans ration drugs today based on price.
  • NPR: “Insulin’s high cost leads to lethal rationing.”
    • In 2019 alone, deaths have included: Jesimya David Scherer-Radcliff, 21; Kayla Davis, 29; Josh Wilkerson, 27; and Jada Louis, 24.
  • CDC: “Among adults with diagnosed diabetes who were prescribed medication in the past 12 months, 13.2% did not take their medication as prescribed, and 24.4% asked their doctor for a lower-cost medication.”
  • Vox: “It means that our system, even if we don’t like to admit it, has to pick and choose who gets access to lifesaving drugs.”

MYTH #2: The Part B demonstration will establish drug prices that are impossibly low — stifling innovation, damaging drug companies and hurting our health system.
FACTS:

• Americans would still pay Pharma more for drugs than other developed countries.
  • The New York Times: “A government study that said Medicare was paying 80 percent more than other advanced industrial countries for some of the most costly physician-administered medicines.”
  • Secretary Azar: “Over the next five years under this model, we will go from paying 180 percent of what other countries pay for these drugs to 126 percent of what they pay.”
• Lowering prices in Part B will have little to no impact on innovation.
  • National Academy of Sciences: “NIH funding contributed to published research associated with every one of the 210 new drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration from 2010–2016. “
  • HHS: “The possible savings American patients would receive over five years represents less than 1 percent of pharmaceutical R&D spending during that time; and the pharmaceutical industry has offered no evidence of that amount having a meaningful impact on innovation.”
• Drug companies can easily make that up by reducing advertising and marketing spending.
  • Washington Post: “Nine out of 10 big pharmaceutical companies spend more on marketing than on research.”
  • JAMA: “From 1997 through 2016…DTC prescription drug advertising increased from $1.3 billion to $6 billion with a shift toward advertising high-cost biologics and cancer immunotherapies.”

MYTH #3: The demonstration will result in worse care for patients. The government should not replace a market-based system with government price setting.
FACTS:

• We do not have a market-based system in the United States. Our system is completely based on laws and regulations.
  • Avik Roy, Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity: “Medicare Part B does not represent a “free market” for prescription drugs. Instead, the program uses government-administered reimbursement rates to pay for drugs. The structure of this system is far removed from how a true market would work.”
    Peter Bach, MD, Director of Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Center for Health Policy and Outcomes: “There is no free market for prescription drugs in the U.S. The U.S. system of drug pricing is completely built on a foundation of government imposed laws and regulations that grant monopolies and market power to large players.”
  • JAMA: “High drug prices are the result of the approach the United States has taken to granting government-protected monopolies to drug manufacturers, combined with coverage requirements imposed on government-funded drug benefits.”
• The 16 countries used for reference by and large have better health outcomes and longer life expectancy than the U.S., while spending about half as much per capita for health expenditures.
  • Kaiser Family Foundation and Peterson Center on Healthcare: Of the 16 other developed economies in the IPI, Americans have worse health outcomes than: Austria, France, Germany, Japan, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
  • Central Intelligence Agency: Of the 16 other developed economies in the IPI, Americans have shorter life expectancies than 13 of them: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
  • World Bank: Of the 16 other developed economies in the IPI, Americans spend more on health care as a percentage of GDP than all of them: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
• The current system is broken.
  • CNN: “Americans pay anywhere from two to six times more than the rest of the world for brand name prescription drugs.”
  • Wall Street Journal: “Compared with the U.S., drug prices are far lower in many overseas countries…Critics have long held that the [U.S.] percentage-based ‘add-on’ fee creates incentives for doctors to use higher-priced drugs.”

MYTH #4: Americans do not support the Part B proposed changes.
FACTS:

• According to a GOP pollster, Americans overwhelmingly support the International Pricing Index to lower drug prices.
  • Voters support the HHS proposal to lower drug prices by a 71-point margin (80 percent support vs. 9 percent oppose).
  • Majorities from both parties agree that Democrats and Republicans in Congress should support the proposal.
  • Notably, 8 in 10 voters believe the proposal will result in better care or have no impact on the care they receive.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Patients For Affordable Drugs Now today placed a six-figure ad buy in support of the administration’s proposed reforms to Medicare Part B that will lower drug prices and reduce patient out-of-pocket costs. As part of the campaign, TV and digital ads will tell the story of Ruth Rinehart, a cancer patient who went bankrupt and lost her home due to the price of her Part B prescription drugs. She urges Congress and the Administration to move forward and implement an International Pricing Index.

Watch the ad here. The six-figure buy will begin today. It will air on “Fox & Friends” and nationwide on YouTube, Twitter, and other digital platforms.

“Big Pharma is trying to stop President Trump from delivering on his promise to bring U.S. drug prices in line with what other nations pay,” said David Mitchell, a cancer patient and the founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now. “Drug corporations deployed all the usual scare tactics and threats to stop this powerful proposal. We are redoubling our efforts to see that it is implemented.”

Currently, Americans pay far more for prescription drugs than other wealthy nations. Under the draft proposal from the Department of Health and Human Services, the price Americans pay for expensive infused drugs in Medicare would fall from 80 percent more than other wealthy nations to only 26 percent more. The proposed rule is currently under review by the Office of Management and Budget. The drug industry has consistently attacked the proposal because the changes would lower prices while ensuring patient access to drugs.

Today’s media buy is part of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now’s ongoing campaign in support of the HHS’ International Pricing Index proposal. The campaign, which launched in January, includes TV and digital advertisements, patient fly-ins, polling, and videos featuring patients who stand to access more affordable drugs under the proposal.

By a 71-point margin, voters support HHS’ proposal to lower drug prices in Medicare Part B by implementing the International Pricing Index (80 percent support vs. 9 percent oppose). Majorities from both parties believe Democrats and Republicans in Congress should support the proposal that would lower prices for infused drugs administered in physician offices and hospitals. Importantly, eight in 10 voters believe the proposal will result in better care or have no impact on the care they receive. Click here to read the poll.

“Ruth” SCRIPT

I’ve had primary immune deficiency for over 25 years.

When we couldn’t afford my drugs any longer, we filed for bankruptcy and lost our home.

There’s a proposal in Washington to bring prices in line with what other countries pay.

It would lower the price of our most expensive drugs by 30 percent.

The International Pricing Index would be good for patients like me.

Contact your elected official. Tell them to support Trump’s plan to lower drug prices.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — In response to news that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ proposal to lower drug prices in Medicare Part B is under review by the Office of Management and Budget, Patients For Affordable Drugs Now Executive Director Ben Wakana issued the following statement:

“We are emphatic in our support of the proposed International Pricing Index for Medicare Part B. It is a bold step forward to lower drug prices, which patients desperately want and the country needs.

“We hope the Trump Administration will finalize this rule to tackle head-on the fact that Americans pay twice as much for drugs than citizens in other wealthy countries.

“Don’t be fooled by Big Pharma’s spin. There is no evidence the proposed Part B changes would impact patient access to drugs.”

BACKGROUND

• Recent polling shows how voters across the country overwhelmingly favor — by a 71-point margin — bringing Medicare Part B drugs in line with what people in other wealthy nations pay, and eight in 10 voters believe the proposal will result in better care or have no impact on the care they receive.
• “Americans pay anywhere from two to six times more than the rest of the world for brand name prescription drugs.”
• More than 1,500 patient advocates signed a petition urging the administration to move forward with the proposal to lower drug prices in Medicare Part B.
• Patients For Affordable Drugs Now released a TV ad, “Ruth,” about a Florida patient who tells the story of how her family went bankrupt and lost their home due to the price of her Part B drugs. She urges Congress and the Administration to move forward and implement an International Pricing Index. P4ADNow also released a video featuring Mike Gaffney, a resident of Washington state who discussed what the Part B changes would mean for him.
• In April, P4ADNow hosted a congressional briefing featuring a bipartisan panel of experts who agreed that International Reference Pricing can lower drug prices in the U.S. while maintaining innovation.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Patients For Affordable Drugs Now released a new digital ad in support of the Department of Health and Human Services’ proposal to adopt an International Pricing Index to lower drug prices in Medicare Part B.

Watch the video here.
 
Under the proposal, Medicare would pay only 26 percent more than other wealthy countries for drugs administered by physicians or in hospital settings — that’s compared to the 80 percent more it pays today. But Big Pharma is attacking the International Pricing Index because the changes could actually rein in outrageous drug prices.
 
In a new video, cancer patient and Patients For Affordable Drugs Now founder David Mitchell debunks the myths that drug corporations are spreading about the International Pricing Index. Mitchell points out that, under the changes, his drug prices would drop by $100,000, and his access to life-sustaining treatment would remain exactly the same.

“There’s a bipartisan plan in Washington that would lower the price of my drugs by $100,000,” Mitchell says in the video. “ But Big Pharma has mobilized its message machine, lobbying furiously and spending millions to stop it. Pharma says it will stifle innovation, allow government bureaucrats to control my health care, block my access to these drugs. None of that is true.”
 
The video release is part of a nationwide, nearly $1 million campaign in support of the International Pricing Index that includes ads on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Google. The ads urge Americans to contact their senators and representatives in support of the proposed changes.
 
According to a recent poll, voters support the HHS proposal to lower drug prices by a 71-point margin (80 percent support vs. 9 percent oppose). Majorities from both parties agree that Democrats and Republicans in Congress should support the proposal.
 
Importantly, Americans find Big Pharma’s claim that the proposed reforms would hinder patient access to be wrong. Eight in 10 voters believe the proposal will result in better care or have no impact on the care they receive. That’s bolstered by the fact that nine out of 10 big pharmaceutical companies actually spend more on advertising and marketing than on research and development, according to The Washington Post. There is no evidence the proposed Part B changes would impact patient access to drugs unless drug corporations withhold drugs from patients.
 
TRANSCRIPT

I have incurable blood cancer.
 
The drugs keeping me alive are priced at $325,000 a year.
 
There’s a bipartisan plan in Washington that would lower the price of my drugs by $100,000.
 
But Big Pharma has mobilized its message machine, lobbying furiously and spending millions to stop it. 
 
Pharma says it will stifle innovation, allow government bureaucrats to control my health care, block my access to these drugs. 
 
None of that is true.
 
The truth is the International Pricing Index keeps all the protections we now have to ensure access to these drugs.
 
It just brings the prices we pay in the US more in line with what other countries pay. 
 
We can’t let Big Pharma and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce with their millions of dollars of high-powered lobbyists stop this proposal from taking effect that would help so many Americans.
 
Tell your members of Congress to support the International Pricing Index. 

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — In response to comments President Trump made in his State of the Union Address about prescription drug prices, David Mitchell, a cancer patient and the founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now, issued the following statement:
 
“We appreciate President Trump’s continued focus on the country’s drug pricing crisis. But, two years into his term, prices are still going up, patients are still struggling, and Big Pharma is breaking records lobbying Congress to keep it that way.
 
“We’re glad the President touched on his plan to bring U.S drug prices more in line with what other wealthy countries pay. The International Pricing Index would lower the cost of America’s most expensive drugs by 30 percent. The plan has merit, and we urge the President to advance this proposal.
 
“That being said, not nearly enough has been accomplished and additional action is urgently needed. The list prices of drugs need to come down. Patients need Congress and the Executive branch to fix our broken system.
 
“Every day, Americans experience heartbreaking stress and financial pain due to high drug prices. Ruth Rinehart, of Tampa, Florida’s $52,000 prescription drug costs forced her to declare bankruptcy and lose her family home. The time for action is now.”
 
BACKGROUND
 
Drug costs are out of control

• Americans spend more than $450 billion each year on prescription drugs — by some estimates, nearly one-fifth of all health care costs go toward prescription drugs.
• The main driver of prescription drug spending is patent-protected brand-name drugs, which make up only about 10 percent of prescriptions but account for three-quarters of drug spending.

 
Americans pay more for drugs than any other country

• CNN: “Americans pay anywhere from two to six times more than the rest of the world for brand name prescription drugs.”
• The New York Times: “A government study said Medicare was paying 80 percent more than other advanced industrial countries for some of the most costly physician-administered medicines.”
• Senate Finance Congressional Testimony: “Revenues generated just from sales in America would fund 176 percent of the global pharmaceutical research and development budgets for these companies.”

 
Drug prices are rising, not falling

• Associated Press: An analysis found that through the end of last July there were 4,412 brand-name drug price increases and merely 46 price cuts—a ratio of 96-to-1.
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Medicare beneficiaries’ costs for branded drugs rose by 40 percent — from $161 in 2011 to $225 in 2015.
• Health Affairs/Vox: “Prices for drugs of all types and from all classes (brand-name, specialty, generics/oral or injectable) have been rising faster than inflation…from 2008 to 2016.”

 
High drug prices hurt patients

• Kaiser Family Foundation: 1 out of 4 patients report that in the past year they or a family member have not filled a prescription (24 percent) or have skipped a dose or cut pills in half (19 percent) because of the cost.
• NPR: “Insulin’s high cost leads to lethal rationing.”
• Vox: “It means that our system, even if we don’t like to admit it, has to pick and choose who gets access to lifesaving drugs.”

 
Drug companies are rich and excessive

• The Washington Post: “9 out of 10 big pharmaceutical companies spend more on marketing than on research.”
• JAMA: “From 1997 through 2016…DTC prescription drug advertising increased from $1.3 billion to $6 billion with a shift toward advertising high-cost biologics and cancer immunotherapies.”
• Axios: “Nine drug companies are spending a combined $50 billion on new share buyback programs…The large buyback programs are rolling out while the same pharmaceutical companies raise drug prices and while Americans struggle to afford their prescriptions.”
   

Big Pharma rigged the system

• Open Secrets: “Pharmaceutical groups are spending heavily to influence public opinion and policy as rising drug prices become an increasingly mainstream political talking point. The industry claimed the top spot among lobbying spenders in 2018 — roughly $280 million — with no other industry coming close.”
• STAT News: “PhRMA spent a record-breaking $27.5 million on lobbying in 2018.”
• Axios: “Those totals don’t include the millions individual drug companies spent on their own lobbyists. They also don’t include the industry’s campaign contributions, which topped $17 million in the 2018 cycle.”

 
Americans demand reform

• Harvard/Politico: 8 in 10 Americans want Congress to act and lower prescription drug prices.
• Kaiser Family Foundation: “72 percent of people think the drug industry has too much influence in Washington — outweighing the 69 percent who feel that way about Wall Street or the 52 percent who think the NRA has too much power.”
• GS Strategies: There is overwhelming bipartisan support for the CREATES Act. More than 83 percent of voters support passage of the CREATES Act and almost 6 in 10 strongly support it.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — As Big Pharma spends millions to kill proposed reforms in Medicare Part B, it’s important to keep in mind why: The proposal will lower drug prices and reduce patient out-of-pocket costs. Under the draft proposal from the Department of Health and Human Services, prices for expensive infused drugs administered in physician offices and hospitals would be brought more in line with what people in other wealthy nations pay. Read a snapshot of what patients, legislators, and experts are saying about the potential reform.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT MEDICARE  PART B REFORMS

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN): “Tennesseans often struggle to afford prescription drugs, and this proposal appears to put patients and taxpayers first.” [WSJ, 10/25/18]

Avik Roy: “The administration unveiled a new proposal to substantially reduce the price of certain costly drugs administered under Medicare.” [Forbes, 11/26/18]

Bloomberg News: “Trump’s plan is a refreshing change: an idea for lowering drug prices that might actually work.” [Editorial Board, 10/26/18]

Ruth Rinehart, Primary Immune Deficiency Patient: “As a patient who is reliant on the services of Medicare Part B and continues to the pay the price for drugs for which Medicare cannot negotiate, I am strongly in favor of the Trump Administration’s proposal to lower Part B drug prices.” [Tampa, FL, 12/18/18]

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA): “The administration has taken a proposal that we had suggested in Medicare Part B … we speak about market basket reference pricing. Taking a market basket of pricing paid by developed economies — Germany, Great Britain, Australia, and Japan — and the United States pays some multiple. The administration has put out a rule to do this in Medicare Part B where ultimately the American consumer will pay 1.26 times that market basket average. There are ways to get at this.” [STAT, 11/30/18]

Professor Rachel Sachs: “Of all the drug pricing proposals the Trump administration has introduced so far – and there have been many – this is by far the most ambitious.” [Health Affairs, 10/26/18]

Paul Kleutgen, cancer patient and former pharmaceutical executive: “The International Pricing Index Model for Medicare is a bold step to lower prices and out-of-pocket costs for people taking some of the most expensive drugs out there. That’s why the groups that profit from the current system are trying to stop it.” [St. James, NC, 12/18/18]

Dr. Peter Bach: “The proposed Part B payment model has multiple strong elements. It is an evaluation, if it works well it can be expanded, but if it doesn’t it can be sunset….It acknowledges that if the US does not have the political will to determine how much taxpayers should be paying for drugs, the US can still piggyback on the negotiations of other countries that have a strong tradition of fiscal responsibility with regards to health care and pharmaceutical costs.” [12/17/18]

Santa Rosa Press Democrat: “The Trump Administration wants to bring down those Medicare drug prices, keeping them more in line with prices charged abroad. A similar plan floated by the Obama Administration drew fierce opposition and was shelved.” [Editorial Board, 11/24/18]

Dr. Vincent Rajkumar: “Yes this may reduce Part B prices if it survives the onslaught of comments and lobbying that is sure to come from @PhRMA.” [Twitter, 10/27/18]

Mike Gaffney, cancer patient:“It is deeply frustrating to me that Medicare does not have the ability to negotiate, meaning that we pay 80% more than other wealthy countries like ours. That is why I am supportive of the Trump Administration’s plan to lower Medicare Part B drug prices for drugs like the infusion I received for a year and a half.” [Olympia, WA, 12/18/18]

Dr. Aaron Kesselheim: “The IPIM would likely lower prices in the U.S. because many other countries evaluate the value a new drug provides as part of a process of negotiating a price with the manufacturer.” [12/17/18]

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