News and Reports | June 10, 2026
Basey argues lawmakers should not hand pharmaceutical companies in Congress what they failed to win in court.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Following the Supreme Court’s decision to reject petitions from six major drugmakers seeking to overturn Medicare drug price negotiation, Patients For Affordable Drugs CEO Merith Basey is urging Congress to protect and strengthen the program rather than weaken it at the pharmaceutical industry’s request.
In an op-ed published today in The Hill, Basey argues that after suffering repeated defeats in court, drug companies have shifted their focus to Capitol Hill, where they continue pushing legislation that would delay or limit lower drug prices for patients.
“Hospitals and medical device makers negotiate with Medicare. Yet drug companies were asking for a permanent exception. Every court thus far has declined to provide one.”
“Each additional negotiated drug expands the number of people who can afford their treatment without interruption. While the legal path for challenging this program is now largely exhausted, the policy debate is not.”
“The courts declined to give pharmaceutical companies the carve-out they were asking for. Congress shouldn’t either. Patients in every other wealthy country already get the medications they need at prices their governments negotiated on their behalf. Americans deserve the same — and they finally have a law that delivers it.”
The op-ed highlights the real-world impact of Medicare negotiation, including the story of Judy Aiken, a retired nurse from Maine whose monthly cost for Enbrel is set to fall by 67 percent under the program. It also warns that industry-backed legislation like the EPIC Act would delay negotiation for many medicines and keep prices higher for patients.
Read the full op-ed in The Hill: Big Pharma lost in court. Congress shouldn’t bail them out.
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Patients For Affordable Drugs is the only national patient advocacy organization focused exclusively on policies that lower prescription drug prices. We empower and mobilize patients by amplifying their experiences with high drug prices to hold those in power to account and fight to shape and achieve system-changing policies that make prescription drugs affordable for all people in the United States. P4AD does not accept funding from organizations that profit from the development and distribution of drugs. To learn more, visit PatientsForAffordableDrugs.org