The following are excerpts from a story originally published by the Boston Business Journal on August 15, 2024:
The state’s industry group for drug developers called the 2-year-old law that allows Medicare to directly negotiate drug prices a “flawed law” after the Biden administration announced new prices for the first 10 prescription drugs subject to those negotiations.
On Thursday, the Biden administration came out with its list of prices for those 10 drugs that were subject to controversial cost negotiations under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. That law focused on “high expenditure, single-source drugs without generic or biosimilar competition.”
While Massachusetts-headquartered drug companies aren’t among those directly impacted by this first round of negotiations, the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council used the opportunity to raise the alarm about what it sees as a measure that discourages innovation.
CEO Kendalle Burlin O’Connell said in a statement to the Business Journal that the trade group “remains concerned” about the law. Opponents of the law have argued that it takes away incentives for companies doing drug development.
“Today (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) released prices for the first 10 drugs subject to the IRA’s Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program,” Burlin O’Connell said. “The prices released today are the result of a flawed law that disincentivizes the development of new cures, therapies, and vaccines. MassBio remains concerned about the law and is committed to working with policymakers to develop alternative solutions that encourage patient access to innovative new therapies.”