News and Updates | April 29, 2025
To our Community,
Today marks one hundred days into the new presidential administration. A key moment to take stock and reflect on where we are in the fight to lower drug prices for all Americans.
Over the past several weeks, we’ve heard directly from nearly 1,000 people in our community – patients, family members, caregivers – asking similar questions: Will Congress finally hold Big Pharma and Pharmacy Benefit Managers accountable? Will the momentum we’ve built be sustained? Will Medicare drug price negotiations continue as planned? Will my family finally feel the relief from high drug prices? Should we feel concerned about the threat of tariffs on pharmaceuticals?
Our intention is to give you the facts when it comes to drug pricing. And here’s what we know: The fight to lower drug prices is far from over. And at the same time, there are tangible opportunities within reach, and our movement is strong and continuing to grow.
In just the past few months, we’ve seen the Department of Justice vigorously defend the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program in court. We’ve watched lawmakers reintroduce bills to curb some of the pharmaceutical industry’s worst abuses of the patent system. And we’ve seen thousands of patients and allies — more than 24,000 so far this year — take action: sending letters, joining roundtables, sharing stories, and demanding urgent action from our elected officials.
At the same time, we know the pharmaceutical industry and its allies aren’t letting up on their mission to protect monopolies and keep Americans paying four to eight times more for brand-name drugs than patients in peer countries. And they have the money to do it — through their vast network of lobbyists, ads, and targeted misinformation campaigns aimed at stalling or reversing our progress.
In just the first quarter of 2025, PhRMA — the drug industry’s top lobbying group — spent a record-breaking $12.9 million trying to roll back the progress we’ve helped achieve together. They’re backing multi-billion-dollar carveouts like the EPIC Act, a dangerous effort to block Medicare from negotiating prices on some of the most commonly used drugs — and they’re flooding Washington with cash to make it happen.
Even a recent executive order from President Trump, while including provisions that patients can be encouraged by — like faster approval of generics and greater oversight of pharmacy benefit managers — mirrored Pharma’s playbook by proposing a give-away for small-molecule drugs. If enacted, it would delay negotiation and lock in high prices for years to come.
But that’s why this fight matters. High drug prices hurt everyone, no matter their politics. One in three Americans struggles to afford their prescriptions. And nearly 90% of voters — across party lines — support allowing Medicare to negotiate lower prices. It’s one of the most popular policies in the country. Patients and the public are demanding action — and that’s where our power comes from.
And that’s also why our approach remains the same whoever is in office: relentless advocacy, keen attention to the policy and an unshakable belief that when patients and allies are organized, and patient voices are at the forefront of the fight, not only can we take on one of the most powerful industries in the world – we can win. We know we can, because we have.
In the months ahead, we’ll continue to focus on our top policy priorities:
We will do this as we always have: by empowering and mobilizing patients and allies, holding accountable those in power, and fighting to achieve system-changing policies that make prescription drugs affordable for all people in the United States.
It won’t be easy — but with people like you, and with almost 90% of the public on our side, we know we can win.
With gratitude and resolve,
Merith Basey
Executive Director
Patients For Affordable Drugs