WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce released new research, the Patient Access Report, showing the impact of price controls on patient access to innovative medicines across nine of the world's leading economies.
The report finds that nations that allow for marketplace competition and provide effective intellectual property protections have greater patient access to the latest innovative medicines. By contrast, market-restrictive policies like artificial price controls can deter future innovation and inhibit patient access.
"For decades, the United States has led the world in both development of, and access to, innovative medicines—today, that leadership is at risk," said Tom Quaadman, Executive Vice President at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "Sadly, policies like the price-setting mechanisms in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) could lead to less groundbreaking treatments and rationing of lifesaving medicines for American patients."
The report illustrates how countries that impose price controls have less access to lifesaving treatments and cures, including:
- Fewer overall biopharmaceutical product launches in Canada, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and European Union member states than in the United States over the past 20 years.
- Fewer biologics were launched in countries with severe cost control policies, including South Korea and Australia.
- Fewer oncology treatments have been launched, with a fraction of the products launched in Europe that are available in the United States.
- Delayed access to treatments, with patients waiting an average of 133 days in Germany and up to 500 days in Spain to access new treatments.
“The Chamber urges government officials to consider the implications of price controls on patient choice before implementing a framework that jeopardizes U.S. leadership on biopharmaceutical innovation and patient access to new, cutting-edge, and life-saving treatments,” Quaadman said.
The Patient Access Report cautions that the IRA’s price controls will have a similar, detrimental impact on biopharmaceutical innovation and could lead to fewer new products and medicines developed and introduced in the United States.
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