Rep. Doggett’s Statement on Draft March-In Rights Agency Guidance
Contact: Alexis.Torres@mail.house.gov
Washington, D.C.—Today, U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), Ranking Member of the House Ways & Means Health Subcommittee, and a longtime advocate for a federal response to prescription price gouging who previously sought use of “march-in” taxpayer protection authority on pharmaceuticals, responded to the Draft Interagency Guidance Framework for Considering the Exercise of March-In Rights:
“This announcement appears to be more repackaging than relief. Qualifying its claimed value in fighting price gouging with considerations like ‘the potential chilling effect on the agencies’ existing relationships with industry’ represents continued use of the same misguided standard with which the Biden Administration has previously failed to exercise this authority. In March, the Administration denied a petition on Xtandi. This prostate cancer drug, developed with taxpayer funding and for which taxpayers spent $2 billion in a single year to cover Medicare beneficiaries, costs Americans up to six times as much as patients in other countries.”
“American taxpayers invest over $100 billion a year in pharmaceutical research and development, yet they are struggling to afford outrageously priced medications. Simply restating that an outrageous price is one of many considerations does nothing to relieve the burden on consumers’ pocketbooks until the Administration actually exercises its longstanding authority to provide relief and protect taxpayer investments. Big Pharma fear mongering should have no place in agency guidance. I will be urging substantial revisions so that this announcement can represent a genuine policy change, not an illusion. The focus should be on the health and safety needs of patients rather than the health of Big Pharma’s excessive profit margins.”