CSRxP spokesman Will Holley released the following statement in response to Secretary Azar’s testimony in front of the Senate Finance Committee today:
“The Administration’s focus on out-of-control list and launch prices is a step in the right direction towards our shared goal of more-affordable prescription drugs. In particular, we were encouraged to hear Secretary Azar’s response to a question from Senator Menendez on the bipartisan CREATES Act: ‘obviously what’s in the CREATES Act resonates completely with what we have been saying and what FDA has been doing to prevent the very abuses that you’ve correctly laid out there.’
“The problem is the price. Putting an end to tactics like those addressed by the CREATES Act and the FDA’s recent actions will reduce drug manufacturers’ ability to raise list prices unconstrained by generic and biosimliar competition.
“We applaud Secretary Azar’s commitment to reversing the incentives on ever-increasing list and launch prices, and we will continue to work with the Administration and Congress to develop and implement policies that bring relief to the millions of Americans who struggle to afford the drugs on which they depend.”