WASHINGTON, DC — In response to the announcement that Pfizer rolled back July price hikes on dozens of prescription drugs after a presidential Tweet condemning the multinational drug corporation’s most recent price increases, David Mitchell, president and founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs, issued the following statement:

“We’re glad to see that President Trump took Pfizer to the woodshed,” he said. “There are other companies that have increased prices and could use the pressure of a Presidential tweet. But one-off tweets do not fix the systemic problems we have with drug prices. We need long-term structural action to provide enduring relief.”

BACKGROUND

• President Donald Trump on May 30 said some of the nation’s biggest drug makers will voluntarily announce “massive” drug price cuts in mid-June.
• On July 1, US drug maker Pfizer hiked the price of 100 prescription drugs.
• President Donald Trump in a tweet condemned the action and Pfizer announced it would roll back the hikes.
• The roll back does not prevent other corporations from raising drug prices. Celgene, the maker of the cancer drug Revlimid, hiked the drug another 5 percent. In all, the corporation has driven up the price of its life-extending cancer drug 25 percent in 18 months. That drug should be coming down in price based on generic competition. But Celgene has abused our system to block generics.