Business leaders oppose federal drug bill

A group of 30 business leaders from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware recently sent a letter to their states’ Congressional delegations opposing H.R. 3.

H.R. 3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act, which was introduced in April, is currently being debated in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill would allow the Department of Health and Human Services to negotiate prescription drug prices under Medicare.

The group opposes the bill in the House and any similar efforts in the U.S. Senate. The bill will jeopardize patient access, the letter said, not lower costs for patients.

If the bill becomes law, the three states would lose $35.4 billion in lost economic output annually and 131,500 jobs, the letter said citing a recent study.

Passage also would limit life sciences’ ability to research and discover vaccines, treatments and cures; and would decrease construction activity, tax revenue, charitable donations, and vendor spending, the letter claimed.

“Simply put, H.R. 3 is bad for patients, bad for global health and bad for Pennsylvania’s, Delaware’s and New Jersey’s economies,” Christopher P. Molineaux, Life Sciences Pennsylvania president and CEO, said.

The business leaders urged federal representatives to vote against the bill and focus instead on policies that will lower patients’ out-of-pocket costs.