Affordable Prescription Drug Task Force Lays Out Priorities for Trump to Lower Prescription Drug Prices

In response to reports that President Donald Trump will belatedly present at 2:00pm Friday, May 11, his plans to address the soaring cost of prescription drugs, the Affordable Prescription Drug Task Force released a list of key provisions that any effective plan should include. With drug prices soaring at a rate 10 times that of inflation and pharmaceutical corporations price gouging patients, there is a true drug pricing crisis in the United States. Even in the face of the opioid epidemic, a devastating national public health emergency, the price of naloxone, a lifesaving overdose reversal drug, has been spiked by almost 600%. An effective drug is 100% ineffective when it is unaffordable.

If President Trump is sincere in his declaration that “the cost of medicine in this country is outrageous,” he must lay out a national action plan to bring prices down. Any meaningful proposal must at least include the following:

1. Negotiate prescription drug prices under Medicare to harness the purchasing power of the federal government, as the President has previously proposed;
2. Shed light on thepharmaceutical corporation’s drug pricing system through genuine transparency to reveal the true cost of drug production, as the President has previously proposed;
3. End patent system abuse by eliminating tactics that thwart competition like pay-for-delay deals, patent evergreening, and Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) abuse;
4. Allow safe importation of prescription drugs from other countries, as the President has previously proposed; and
5. Ensure access to affordable drugs by crafting fair trade agreements.

After joining Task Force chairs Reps. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) and Peter Welch (D-VT), as well as Reps. Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD), Mark Pocan (D-WI), Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), Judy Chu (D-CA), Chellie Pingree (D-ME), and Ro Khanna (D-CA) in releasing these priorities, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL),released the following statement:

“The skyrocketing costs of prescription drugs are forcing millions of American families to make impossible choices every day. No one in this country should have to decide between putting food on the table and paying for the life-saving medications their children need.

“Pharmaceutical corporations will keep raising their prices for one simple reason: because they can. There is widespread agreement that this is a problem – President Trump himself has said that pharmaceutical corporations are ‘getting away with murder’. What remains to be seen is whether President Trump and his Administration are willing to implement real solutions to lower drug costs and give Americans the relief they need.

“Lukewarm, PhRMA-friendly approaches just won’t work. We need President Trump to do much more than just ‘check the box’ of appearing to take action on prescription drug prices. Failing to take truly meaningful action could mean the difference between life and death for Americans struggling to afford their medication.”