In case you missed it, the Washington Post recently published an editorial
titled, “Americans Pay A Lot For Drugs Because They’re Worth It,” which
presents Americans with a false choice between pharmaceutical innovation and
affordability. The reality is, we can have both innovation and affordability
when it comes to pharmaceutical drugs.





 

June 27, 2025



TOPLINE



In case you missed it, the Washington Post recently published an editorial
titled, “Americans Pay A Lot For Drugs Because They’re Worth It
<[link removed]>
,” which presents Americans with a false choice between pharmaceutical
innovation and affordability. The reality is, we can have both innovation and
affordability when it comes to pharmaceutical drugs.



Big Pharma routinely asserts research and development (R&D) costs justify
out-of-control prescription drug prices and claims solutions to lower prices
threaten innovation. These arguments simply don’t hold up to the facts—and are
part of a Big Pharma strategy to maintain the status quo where they game the
system to block competition and keep drug prices high.



Numerous studies from medical and academic experts, government analysts and
nonprofit researchers have confirmed Big Pharma’s egregious pricing practices
have no connection to the cost of developing a new medication or improving a
drug’s clinical value for patients.



A September 2022 JAMA Network Open analysis
<[link removed]> found
“no association” between manufacturer drug prices and investments in R&D. An
October 2022 JAMA Internal Medicinestudy
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found oncology treatments are “priced based predominantly on what the market
will bear,” not effectiveness for patients. A 2021report
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nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found, “When drug companies set
the prices of a new drug, they do so to maximize future revenues net of
manufacturing and distribution costs. A drug’s sunk R&D costs—that is, the
costs already incurred in developing that drug—do not influence its price.”



Policymakers should reject Big Pharma’s false arguments on innovation and
advance bipartisan, market-based solutions to hold brand name drug companies
accountable, boost competition and lower drug prices for patients.



Read more on bipartisan, market-based solutions to hold Big Pharma accountable
HERE <[link removed]>.



QUOTES OF THE WEEK



“It’s important for the public to really become more and more in tune with how
the [pharma] companies are using the patent system for their own gain and not
as it was originally intended to bring out these groundbreaking medical
discoveries. Now it’s a system of how much money can I make, it’s become an
ATM.”



Tahir Amin, CEO, Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge
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DATA POINTS YOU SHOULD KNOW



$28.2 Million



Big Pharma’s estimated direct-to-consumer (DTC) television advertising spend
on blockbuster brand name drug Dupixent in May 2025, according toMedical
Marketing and Media
<[link removed]>



TWEETS OF THE WEEK



@IMAKglobal <[link removed]>: “We want to
expose how the patent system has become a tool to drive the business model and
financial gain…It’s a corruption of the patent system” @realtahiramin walks
through our new Overpatented, Overpriced report with @LeverNews”



@P4ADNOW <[link removed]>: “The harmful
ORPHAN Cures Act was excluded from the Senate Finance Committee’s
reconciliation text, a new I-MAK report exposed how drug companies abuse the
patent system to keep prices high, and a federal judge overruled the
administration’s termination of over $1B in NIH research grants. Read more at
our Week in Review:[link removed] <[link removed]>”



ROAD TO RECOVERY



eMarketer: New Regulations On Pharma Advertising Are Under Review By Trump
Administration
<[link removed]>



The Trump administration is mulling new policies to make pharma advertising
more difficult, per a Bloomberg report. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.,
who has called for a ban on pharma TV advertising, is instead eyeing two
policies: One would require drugmakers to disclose more side effects in D2C
advertising. The other would eliminate pharma companies’ advertising tax
deductions… In April, a bipartisan group of lawmakers proposed eliminating
pharma company advertising tax deductions. It could generate more than $1.5
billion in tax revenues, per analysis by Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing.



PHARMA’S POOR PROGNOSIS



TechTarget: Extensive Patent Strategies Drive U.S. Drug Price Disparities
<[link removed]>



Americans are paying up to eight times more for critical anticoagulant and
GLP-1 medications than patients in other developed nations, as pharmaceutical
giants exploit patent loopholes to block affordable generics, according to a
new report. The Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge (I-MAK) 2025 data
brief reveals how pharmaceutical companies like Bristol Myers Squibb, Pfizer
and Novo Nordisk have strategically extended patent protections for blockbuster
drugs like apixaban (branded as Eliquis) and semaglutide (branded as Rybelsus,
Ozempic and Wegovy).



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