Patients in the U.S. pay the highest prices in the world for their brand-name medications, largely due to the monopolistic power held by drug corporations. These companies spend billions on lobbying to keep prices high; in 2024 alone, the pharmaceutical industry spent $293.7 million in Washington to maintain control over prices and block needed reforms.
The consequences are staggering. One in three patients in the U.S. reports not filling prescriptions due to the cost. Many patients face thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket expenses each year. The burden falls hardest on communities of color and lower-income patients, who are more likely to suffer from chronic conditions like diabetes, cancer, and asthma, and already face systemic barriers to care.
Our work is driven by a simple truth: Drugs don’t work if people can’t afford them. By amplifying the voices of those most harmed by high drug prices, we aim to reshape the system and ensure it prioritizes patients, not corporate profits.
Patient advocates were instrumental in passing the 2022 Prescription Drug Law, ushering in reforms that are already providing significant relief to millions of patients on Medicare – while fueling future innovation. Learn more about how we are defending this landmark legislation against pharmaceutical industry efforts to roll back hard-won progress to ensure that everyone can afford the medications they need to live healthy lives with dignity.
At the heart of the drug price crisis is a patent system that was designed to foster innovation for the public good but instead has been exploited by Big Pharma to maintain monopolies and keep drug prices prohibitively high. Learn more about the anti-competitive tactics wielded by drug companies to block competition and bipartisan bills currently in Congress aimed at curbing these abuses.
Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) are the insurance middlemen tasked with negotiating drug prices on behalf of patients. Instead, they conduct their business in a secret system rigged to maximize profits. Read more about our push for transparency and accountability within the PBM industry and the growing momentum on Capitol Hill to rein in their anti-competitive behavior.
We’re in a golden age of drug discovery with many patients finally gaining hope of new, effective treatments that could transform or even save their lives. Yet these breakthrough therapies, including revolutionary cell and gene therapies, come with astronomical price tags. We need to address ever-increasing launch prices that have risen to millions of dollars to balance the need for a fair return on investment while ensuring accessibility and affordability for patients and our health care system.