Des Moines Register – 6/29/20
LTE by Helene Golden, Cedar Rapids
“It’s become clear that the only way we’re going to get COVID under control is through a safe, affordable and accessible vaccine. Yet, despite massive taxpayer investments into the development of remdesivir, and guarantees by the company that it will make the drug affordable, Gilead has decided to once again gouge patients.”
Front Page Live – 6/26/20
The COVID pandemic reminds us that we are all human, we can all get sick, and sometimes we all need prescription medications to feel better and take care of our families.
But for Big Pharma and all their friends in the Trump Administration, today’s crisis is just another chance to price gouge patients trying to stay healthy.
At Lower Drug Prices Now, we have uncovered the five big drug corporations addicted to price gouging and poised to profit off future COVID vaccines. While the Trump Administration is funneling them billions for research through secret contracts and special tax breaks, there is a growing army of people demanding that we hold Big Pharma accountable for inflating their profits at the expense of our health.
Market Watch – 6/24/20
Congress must act now to ensure that COVID-19 vaccines and treatments are affordable
Americans need to have full confidence that decision-makers at the highest levels of government are acting in the interest of their health and well-being.
Since the start of the race for a COVID-19 vaccine, the U.S. government has funneled more than $10 billion in taxpayer dollars to pharmaceutical companies through contracts for the expedited innovation of a vaccine. So far, the government’s investment has been made with no strings attached, not even a guarantee that any vaccines and treatments will be affordable to the people who need them.
“Congress must block Big Pharma’s monopoly control to set prices for medicines developed with taxpayer dollars, especially during a pandemic that’s taken the lives of over 120,000 Americans to date. The time to end Big Pharma business as usual and pass long overdue reforms that increase transparency, accountability and affordability for patients is now.”
Bloomberg Law – 6/18/20
Margarida Jorge, a campaign director for the coalition Lower Drug Prices Now, is skeptical the industry will set affordable prices. “We couldn’t trust them on EpiPens,” she says. “Why on Earth would we think that we could trust the prescription drug industry to create a vaccine that they would then price at a fair rate.” Almost 9 in 10 U.S. adults say they’re concerned the drug industry will leverage the pandemic to raise prices, shows a poll from Gallup and West Health released on June 18.
“A commitment to affordability that can’t be made on the record is just another hollow promise to the American people. Like so many things with this administration, this pledge is nothing more than empty rhetoric.”
