US Drug firms prefer biotech medications over pills
Pharmaceutical industry after opposing law started putting tactics in place to lessen effects
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Drugmakers are preferring sophisticated biotech medications above therapies that can be taken as tablets since new US legislation offers biologics a longer runway before becoming subject to government pricing controls, according to senior industry executives this week.
For the first time the government s Medicare health plan for those aged 65 and over may now negotiate the costs it is ready to pay for certain prescriptions thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) which was enacted by the Democrats last August.
The pharmaceutical industry opposed the law and has started putting tactics in place to lessen its effects. Thousands of its members met this week in San Francisco for the annual JP Morgan Healthcare conference.
Democratic US Congresswoman Katie Porter, who has advocated for medication price caps, said the businesses were using promising new treatments as negotiating chips.
