PHRMA LAUNCHES A BIG NEW AD CAMPAIGN

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) announced Wednesday that it is launching a seven-figure ad campaign against the proposals moving through Congress to lower prescription drug prices.

The group also released an open letter signed by the heads of all of its member companies pointing to the COVID-19 vaccines and treatments developed by the industry and arguing the proposals would “sacrifice future medical advances.”

The moves are part of an aggressive campaign against the measures to lower drug prices backed by congressional Democrats, which threaten to take a large chunk of money out of the pharmaceutical industry.

In its ad, PhRMA states that the new drug pricing measure would mean politicians would be deciding what “medicines you can and can’t get.”

“Politicians say they want to negotiate medicine prices in Medicare,” the new ad states. “But make no mistake: What politicians mean is they’ll decide which medicines you can and can’t get.”

Tricia Neuman, a Medicare expert at the Kaiser Family Foundation, pushed back on that claim, noting that the legislation in Congress would not allow the government to decide not to cover certain drugs.

“The bill working its way through Congress focuses on drug prices,” Neuman wrote in an email. “There’s really nothing in the proposal that would allow the government to decide which medications people on Medicare can get.”