Congress Pursuing Price Setting Measures that May Not Benefit Patients

January 27, 2022

In a new PhRMA article, Nicole Longo argues that Congress is starting off the year on a wrong foot with price-setting measures included in the Build Back Better Act (BBBA). She argues that the policies, if passed, would disincentivize research on medications after they’re approved, discourage biosimilar and generic drug development, and fail to address systemic issues causing access issues for patients.

She writes, “Today, many patients face high out-of-pocket costs and insurance barriers that restrict access to their medicines. That is not ok. But it is a problem that can and should be fixed. Unfortunately, the latest drug pricing plan is a missed opportunity to address the role middlemen, like pharmacy benefit managers, insurers and hospitals, play in forcing patients to pay more than they should for their medicine.”