The pharmaceutical lobby strongly opposed the Biden administration’s plan to directly negotiate drug prices for 10 medications with Medicare. PhRMA argued this will hurt innovation, but advocates note that drug companies make 76% more than needed for R&D. Eliquis, which costs Medicare over $16 billion, will be subject to negotiations. The policy was enabled by the Inflation Reduction Act, which PhRMA spent millions lobbying against. PhRMA sued over the negotiations, but the DOJ moved to dismiss the case. Advocates believe this defeat of Big Pharma will not be the last as negotiations may expand to over 100 drugs in the future, greatly helping seniors and people with disabilities access affordable medications.
That can’t be. People keep telling me how Democrats in general and especially Biden are beholden to corporate interests. And they keep telling me this more often the closer an election is.
Biden is an expert at politicking. He hasn’t done anything to slow down the war machine. I understand providing supplies to Ukraine for foreign allies in Eastern Europe. But we do a lot of fuck shit at the small scale.