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WASHINGTON, D.C. — The following statement was issued by David Mitchell, a cancer patient and founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now, in response to the Senate Judiciary Committee’s bipartisan, unanimous passage of a package of four bills that would lower drug prices and promote innovation by curbing anticompetitive behavior by pharmaceutical corporations:
“We applaud Chairman Durbin, Ranking Member Grassley, and members of the Senate Judiciary Committee for passing legislation to crack down on anticompetitive drug industry practices and strengthen incentives for true biomedical innovation. This package of bills takes important steps to address abuses of our patent system that inhibit innovation, block competition, and allow drug corporations to raise prices without restraint.
“Today’s unanimous vote also lends important momentum to the larger work in Congress to fix our broken drug pricing system. We will continue to work with Congress this year to enact other needed reforms, including allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices for all Americans.”
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WASHINGTON, D.C. — The following statement was issued by David Mitchell, a cancer patient and founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now, in response to President Biden’s July 9 Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy:
“We applaud President Biden for promoting competition to drive true innovation and lower prescription drug prices for Americans. This executive order is another demonstration of the administration’s commitment to providing relief to patients struggling to afford their prescription medications. We look forward to working with HHS and the FTC as they craft their plans to fulfill the requests in the order.
“The president’s executive order included a restatement of his call for comprehensive legislation, including allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices. Both avenues — executive action and legislative solutions — can contribute to the reforms we need to ensure we get the innovation we need at prices patients can afford.”
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