P4AD Founder and President, David Mitchell, released the following statement in response: 

“We are very pleased to see the Medicare prescription drug program move forward under the Trump Administration. But as always, the devil is in the details – patients need to see strong negotiation that delivers the kind of deep price cuts achieved in the first round, where list prices were reduced by over 60% on average. We will do everything we can to support the new Administration to achieve or beat price reductions to date while protecting needed innovation.”

P4AD will monitor how Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. approaches Medicare negotiation during confirmation hearings today and tomorrow, especially given his past comments on the pharmaceutical industry. His role as HHS Secretary, should he be confirmed, would be critical in determining whether this program remains a historic win for patients or is quietly weakened in favor of drug industry profits.

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Patients For Affordable Drugs is the only national patient advocacy organization focused exclusively on policies that lower prescription drug prices. We empower and mobilize patients by amplifying their experiences with high drug prices to hold those in power to account and fight to shape and achieve system-changing policies that make prescription drugs affordable for all people in the United States. P4AD does not accept funding from organizations that profit from the development and distribution of drugs. To learn more, visit PatientsForAffordableDrugs.org.