David Mitchell

David Mitchell, 74, is a patient with an incurable — but treatable — blood cancer called multiple myeloma. He depends on drugs costing hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for his survival and expects to be in continuous treatment until he dies. Myeloma is smart and finds its way around drugs, so David is a strong supporter of innovation and new drugs to extend his life, and the lives of other patients. But he adamantly believes drugs don’t work if people can’t afford them. The Washingtonian called David “an integral player in forcing the prescription-drug provision into the Inflation Reduction Act.” STAT News reported, “Mitchell has filled an important void as a politically savvy patient advocate who was well-funded but didn’t take a penny from the pharmaceutical industry.” David has more than 40 years of experience working on health care and public health policy as a communications specialist. He helped build and run for more than 30 years GMMB — a cause-oriented, public policy communications firm in Washington, DC. There he worked to reduce teen smoking, increase the use of seat belts, fight drunk driving, and improve child health and safety. He retired in 2016 to focus his full energy and attention on helping bring about policy change to lower drug costs, launching Patients For Affordable Drugs in February 2017.

You can follow him on Twitter here.