This morning the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published the list of the first 10 prescription drugs that will be subject to price controls under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Kendalle Burlin O’Connell, CEO & President of MassBio, made the following statement:
“This is a milestone moment, but one that is clouded by open questions of the law’s legality and how CMS is implementing it. The drug price negotiation program, as enacted, will negatively impact drug discovery and innovation and ultimately patients around the world. With the government disincentivizing innovation, the IRA’s implications go far beyond the drugs on this first list. While we know this program’s chilling effects on innovation will become clearer in the coming years and decades, companies and investors are being forced to make decisions in the near-term that will impact what treatments ultimately reach people in need.
“The IRA will also have a significant local impact on the Massachusetts ecosystem and economy. The companies on this initial list employ more than 9,000 people in Massachusetts directly and support many more indirectly, all working on the research and development of life-saving treatments for patients with cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and other unmet medical conditions. Research shows that we stand to lose 30,000 jobs in Massachusetts over the next decade due to these price controls.
“MassBio recognizes that as bad as the program is right now statutorily, it could get worse through implementation if not correctly adhered to. MassBio is supportive of current litigation to address these threats and will continue to watch CMS’s IRA implementation like a hawk.”