| WASHINGTON, D.C. — Patients For Affordable Drugs Now today launched an ad thanking Rep. Colin Allred (TX-32) for being a champion in the fight for lower drug prices and for his vote to pass the Build Back Better Act. The ad features a cancer patient named Jackie, whose cancer medication, Revlimid, is priced at over $20,000 every month. “Millions of people like me are struggling. It’s time for our leaders to lead,” Jackie says in the ad. The ad responds to Rep. Allred’s vote in favor of the Build Back Better Act, which passed the House of Representatives on Nov. 19. Rep. Allred has been a leader in pushing for meaningful drug price reform to be included in the Build Back Better Act. Following the release of the White House’s Build Back Better framework, which did not include any drug price reforms, he signed a letter calling for the inclusion of reforms as an essential element in the legislation. Earlier this year, Rep. Allred also penned an op-ed highlighting the importance of lowering drug prices for Americans and signed onto a letter calling on President Biden to include drug pricing in the reconciliation package. “On behalf of patients, we thank Rep. Allred for fighting to ensure the inclusion of meaningful drug price reforms in the Build Back Better Act,” said David Mitchell, a patient with incurable blood cancer whose drugs carry a list price of more than $900,000 per year and founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now. “His steadfast support for the drug price provisions in the Build Back Better Act was a key factor in the House passage of the bill that finally allows Medicare to negotiate lower prices. Ninety percent of voters support Medicare negotiation, and the reforms in Build Back Better will help millions of Americans.” The ad will run as the Senate moves to take up the Build Back Better Act in December. The Build Back Better Act will, for the first time, authorize Medicare to negotiate prices directly for some of the most expensive prescription medicines, including insulin; institute a hard cap on out-of-pocket drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries; and limit annual price increases to stop price gouging by drug corporations. “Congressman Allred just voted to pass the Build Back Better Act, which for the first time lets Medicare negotiate lower drug prices for Texans,” the ad running on digital platforms says. “He stood up to Big Pharma attacks and did the right thing for patients. Tell Representative Allred: Thank you for voting to lower drug prices for millions of Americans.” Watch the ad here. Full transcript of the ad below: JACKIE: This is a four-week supply of my chemotherapy. It’s 20 pills, and it’s $20,000 every single month. Millions of people like me are struggling. It’s time for our leaders to lead. VO: Congressman Allred just voted to pass the Build Back Better Act, which for the first time lets Medicare negotiate lower drug prices for Texans. He stood up to Big Pharma attacks and did the right thing for patients. Tell Representative Allred: Thank you for voting to lower drug prices for millions of Americans. |
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TEXAS — Patients For Affordable Drugs Now kicks off a campaign today thanking Reps. Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07), Vicente Gonzalez (TX-15), and Colin Allred (TX-32) for supporting H.R. 3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act, a package of drug pricing reforms that includes allowing Medicare to negotiate for lower prices for Texans. The campaign includes TV and digital ads as well as grassroots advocacy, in which constituents will contact Reps. Fletcher, Gonzalez, and Allred to thank them for fighting for patients. The campaign comes after Big Pharma launched a campaign loaded with lies, pressuring the representatives not to support H.R. 3.
“Big Pharma is trying to get Reps. Fletcher, Gonzalez, and Allred to bow to its power with lies and fear-mongering. But they are standing strong to win reforms that will lower the outrageous prices of prescription drugs,” said David Mitchell, a cancer patient and founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now. “Thanks to Reps. Fletcher, Gonzalez, and Allred’s leadership, we can pass H.R. 3 to ensure we get affordable medicines we need now and innovation for the future.”
The campaign features ads highlighting patient advocate Marcus LaCour, who lives with type 1 diabetes. The ads will run on a combination of TV and digital platforms in districts TX-07, TX-15, and TX-32.
You can watch the ad in TX-07 here.
You can watch the ad in TX-15 here.
You can watch the ad in TX-32 here.
“I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at 15 years old. Because insulin is so expensive, I’ve had to skip and ration my doses. My wife has had to skip meals so that we could afford the insulin that I needed to survive,” LaCour, a Cincinnati husband, father, minister, and drug affordability advocate says in the video ad. “No family should have to make that decision. For millions of Americans, it’s serious enough that we need help.”
H.R. 3 was recently reintroduced in the House of Representatives. The chamber passed the bill in the 116th Congress. H.R. 3 is a comprehensive bill that 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 Texas campaign is part of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now’s seven-figure national campaign launching in 42 House districts across 22 states and in D.C.
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