Dems’ Drug Price Controls Would Mean Fewer Drugs And Fewer Jobs

Dems’ Drug Price Controls Would Mean Fewer Drugs And Fewer Jobs

Hundreds of lifesaving therapies will never be invented, and as many as 1.1 million jobs will be lost if Senate Democrats successfully expand their prescription drug price-fixing program, according to a major new study.

The study, conducted by the research group Vital Transformation, modeled the effects of the SMART Prices ActSponsored by 28 Democratic senators including Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Peter Welch, D-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., the bill would expand the price-control scheme approved last year for certain drugs under Medicare as part of the Inflation Reduction Act.

The IRA allows the government to implement price controls on chemically synthesized small-molecule drugs nine years after they receive regulatory approval and on biologics 13 years after approval. In 2026, 10 prescription drugs dispensed through Medicare’s Part D drug benefit would be subject to the price controls. An additional 15 would be ensnared in 2027. Another 15 dispensed in doctor’s offices through Medicare Part B or through the prescription benefit Part D would come up for price controls in 2028. And another 20 across both programs would be hit in 2029.

Click to read the full article in Forbes.

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