Statement by Healthcare Leadership Council President Mary R. Grealy on “Most Favored Nation” Executive Order on Medicare Drug Prices

There is universal agreement that prescription medications should be accessible and affordable for all Americans. The idea, however, that importing the heavy-handed government price controls of other nations is the best approach to achieve that objective is harmful in both substance and timing.

Today, our nation is relying upon biopharmaceutical companies to develop vaccines and therapeutic treatments for a deadly pandemic affecting the lives of millions. The Administration should not be advocating policies that will discourage innovation at a time in which investment in research and development is an imperative of unprecedented urgency. If companies cannot generate a fair return on investment because prices are tied to the regulatory decisions of foreign governments, patients will be harmed by a decline in new lifesaving treatments and therapies.

We support efforts to strengthen affordability in ways that will protect current and future innovation.  We should be incentivizing more drug development and the safe and swift movement of new medicines into the marketplace. We also encourage trade negotiations that will see other countries paying their fair share for biopharmaceutical research. Tying our healthcare future to the price-controlling agendas of foreign governments is not an idea that should be pursued.