WASHINGTON, D.C. (December 6, 2021) – Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) President and CEO Stephen J. Ubl released the following statement after President Joe Biden delivered remarks on drug pricing reform provisions in the Build Back Better Act:

"A damaging bill jammed through a partisan process will not provide patients struggling to afford their medicines meaningful relief. The bill inserts the heavy hand of government into America’s medicine cabinet, and we know when government bureaucrats set the price of medicine, patients ultimately have less access to treatments and cures. The bill also stifles the development of new uses for and improvements to medicines after they are first approved, threatens the introduction of generic and biosimilar medicines, and unwinds successful incentives that spur the development of treatments for rare diseases."

"This bill also ignores persistent problems throughout the health care system, such as tactics by insurers and middlemen that shift higher costs onto vulnerable patients. Middlemen shouldn’t be allowed to pad their profits by collecting massive rebates and then charge patients full price for medicines. Allowing patients to share in the savings like they do for other services in Medicare is a common-sense reform that would provide immediate relief for consumers."

About PhRMA

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) represents the country’s leading innovative biopharmaceutical research companies, which are devoted to discovering and developing medicines that enable patients to live longer, healthier and more productive lives. Since 2000, PhRMA member companies have invested more than $1 trillion in the search for new treatments and cures, including $91.1 billion in 2020 alone.

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