MassBio CEO & President Kendalle Burlin O’Connell released the following statement in response to President Trump’s executive order pertaining to Most Favored Nation prescription drug pricing:
United States biotechs are no strangers to carrying the world’s water in the development of new medicines. Our companies are responsible for breakthroughs in cancer, Alzheimer’s, and even curative therapies previously unimaginable to scientists and patients. These benefits are hardly constrained by our borders, and for the millions of patients around the world looking for hope, MassBio is proud that Massachusetts will always strive to be home to thousands of innovators and biotechs working tirelessly on their behalf.
But today’s Executive Order and announcement by the President cast a dark cloud over our ability to continue to bring that hope forward. There is a hard truth in the President’s words: foreign countries are not paying the fair value for medicines. We stand ready to work with this Administration, Congress, and our global partners to address this disparity.
The President’s Most-Favored Nation’s proposal, however, is simply not the solution. We cannot—and must not—import the values of socialized healthcare systems that leave patients without drugs today and stand in the way of tomorrow’s innovative medicines. And that is precisely what America would be doing if we proceed down this path. We cannot afford to put warning lights in front of our innovation economy at a time when scientific possibility has never been greater.