Press Releases | February 1, 2019
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In light of the news that Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar proposed a new rule to end the safe harbor protections for rebates in government prescription drug programs, Patients For Affordable Drugs founder and cancer patient, David Mitchell, issued the following statement:
“The proposed rule is a serious step forward. It would begin to rid our system of secret deals between drug companies and pharmacy benefit managers that drive up prices and hurt patients.
“It’s important to note that the proposed rule does not lower list drug prices or address the monopoly pricing power of drug corporations. So this rule will not lower prices for sole-source drugs or the most expensive biologic drugs that lack competitors. To address that problem, we need direct price negotiations with drug corporations in Part D and reference pricing as proposed for Part B.
“However, today’s actions — to ensure savings go to patients and not to PBMs — will deliver much-needed relief for patients at the pharmacy counter. We thank Secretary Azar for his focus on the drug pricing crisis, and we look forward to implementation of a final rule.”
BACKGROUND
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