Washington, DC (May 11, 2018) – BIO President and CEO Jim Greenwood issued the following statement after President Trump announced his administration’s plan to lower prescription drug costs:
“The men and women of the biopharmaceutical industry work every day to help cure disease and improve the lives of patients. Our country leads the world in the discovery of new treatments because of gifted researchers, dedicated entrepreneurs and a competitive marketplace that recognizes the inherent risks of biomedical innovation. But developing cures and treatments is not enough. These advances in medicine must also be accessible and affordable for patients.
“Today the president outlined some of the financial challenges patients face at the pharmacy counter. We look forward to working with the administration on solutions that help provide all patients access to prescription drugs with out-of-pocket costs they can afford. However, we have concerns that some of the ideas proposed today could, if adopted, hurt patient access to the medicines they need today and the future cures and treatments they’re desperately waiting for America’s biopharmaceutical innovators to discover.
“BIO represents an industry with the power to save lives and save money in other parts of the health care system. As more information about the administration’s proposals is released in the coming days and weeks, we will carefully review the details. We will work to ensure that these proposals lower costs for patients, support continued innovation, address the practices of foreign governments that undervalue innovative medicines, and do nothing to hurt small companies who are the backbone of biomedical innovation.”
For more information about prescription drug costs, visit DrugCostFacts.org.
About BIO
BIO is the world's largest trade association representing biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations across the United States and in more than 30 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of innovative healthcare, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products. BIO also produces the BIO International Convention, the world’s largest gathering of the biotechnology industry, along with industry-leading investor and partnering meetings held around the world. BIOtechNOW is BIO's blog chronicling “innovations transforming our world” and the BIO Newsletter is the organization’s bi-weekly email newsletter. Subscribe to the BIO Newsletter.
Upcoming BIO Events
BIO International Convention Boston, MA | BIO World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology July 16-19, 2018 Philadelphia, PA |
September 4-5, 2018 Sao Paulo, Brazil | October 17-18, 2018 San Francisco |
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