Dear Senate Committee on the Judiciary Members and Staff: 

On behalf of the Center for Individual Freedom (hereinafter “CFIF”) and over 300,000 supporters and activists across America, I write with regard to the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary’s scheduled May 21, 2024 full committee hearing entitled “Ensuring Affordable & Accessible Medications:  Examining Competition in the Prescription Drug Market.”  

Most importantly, we urge your strongest opposition to any proposal to weaken America’s world-leading patent protection system, introduce drug price controls into the United States healthcare system, empower the federal government to directly and bureaucratically negotiate pharmaceutical prices, or allow importation of potentially dangerous drugs from foreign countries. 

Strong patent protections, which were deliberately and explicitly incorporated into the very text of Article I of our Constitution by the Founding Fathers, provide the foundation for American pharmaceutical innovation, which historically accounts for a remarkable two-thirds of all new drugs introduced to the world.  In the famous words of former patent attorney Abraham Lincoln, strong U.S. patent rights “added the fuel of interest to the fire of genius.” 

It's not coincidence that the U.S. thus accounts for as many new lifesaving pharmaceuticals as the rest of the world combined.  Rather, that’s the direct result of our strong patent protections here in the U.S., and our more market-oriented approach.  Conversely, foreign nations that engage in price control schemes or weaken patent protections inevitably suffer shortages, as even the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) has acknowledged: 

Every time one country demands a lower price, it leads to lower price reference used by other countries.  Such price controls, combined with the threat of market lockout or intellectual property infringement, prevent drug companies from charging market rates for their products, while delaying the availability of new cures to patients living in countries implementing those policies. 

That dynamic has played out across the world, according to straightforward data.  Of 270 new medicines introduced in America from 2011-2018, only 52% were available to our Canadian neighbors, 41% in Australia, 48% in Japan, 53% in France, 64% in Britain and 67% in Germany.  Patients in nations that impose drug price controls and weaken patent protections simply don’t receive access to new pharmaceuticals as quickly as Americans, if they ever receive them at all. 

In seeking public policy solutions to make medications more affordable and accessible by increasing competition in the prescription drug market, this Committee should examine potential reforms in the pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) sector.  As others such as the Trade Alliance to Promote Prosperity (TAPP) have noted, PBMs remain a driver of cost and impact affordability.  Accordingly, potential reforms to increase market competition into that realm may prove fruitful in the Committee’s pursuit. 

Simply put, abandoning free-market principles and strong patent protections in favor of price controls and weaker patents will make matters worse for American consumers, not better. 

We therefore urge you in the strongest possible terms to oppose proposals that would have that effect, and instead support more market-based solutions that have proven effective not only with pharmaceuticals, but across all economic realms. Thank you very much for your attention to this important matter, and please contact me at your convenience with any questions or comments.