Trump Admin Should Drop Investigation Against Germany’s Drug Pricing Policies
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) should call off its unsubstantiated investigation into Germany’s policies for medicine affordability, which will only inflate Big Pharma profits and distract from needed affordability measures at home, Public Citizen said today in a comment filed with the agency. Senate health committee ranking member U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), House Ways and Means health subcommittee ranking member House Ways and Means health subcommittee ranking member U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), and a coalition of 70 consumer organizations on both sides of the Atlantic submitted similar comments urging USTR to drop the probe.
USTR’s investigation is premised on the false notion that U.S. drug prices are high because other countries’ prices are lower, Public Citizen argued. But in fact, exorbitant U.S. drug prices are the result of the unchecked power of the pharmaceutical industry, which must be challenged directly.
Public Citizen’s comment focuses on four points: Germany’s drug price negotiation framework informed U.S. efforts to lower drug prices; USTR should not attack country practices that the U.S. uses or would consider using to lower drug costs; Germany’s pharmaceutical pricing policies are not unjustifiable, unreasonable, or discriminatory; and Germany’s prices are not “suppressed” and do not burden or restrict U.S. commerce.
“Trump sided with prescription drug corporations against consumers, in the U.S. and abroad. Instead of backing Big Pharma bullying, Trump should get serious and expand our government’s power to negotiate lower drug prices, which is what Americans want,” said Peter Maybarduk, Access to Medicines director for Public Citizen. “The U.K. already agreed to a disastrous deal with the Trump administration that will harm patients there and do nothing to address drug prices at home. USTR should drop its investigation, and European countries should refuse to bow to Trump and Big Pharma’s threats.”