Sharp Cuts to Research Funding Would Deprive Patients of Hope


By Mary Stabile

Congress is poised to pass two separate bills designed to bring down drug prices.

House Democrats and Senate Republicans are advancing bills that would set prices on prescription medicines, both directly and indirectly.

The House plan would allow the government to arbitrarily dictate the prices of 250 medicines, reducing drug companies' revenues by an estimated $1 trillion over a decade.

The Senate's plan would prohibit drug companies from raising prices faster than the rate of inflation and restructure Medicare's prescription drug benefit in a way that effectively raises taxes on drug companies. All told, the Senate package would cost biopharmaceutical firms about $100 billion over a decade.

While both chambers have good intentions, the proposed pricing reforms would suppress medical research and, over time, deprive patients of new treatments.

Medical research is a high-risk, high-reward business. Most experimental drugs never make it out of the lab. Close to 90 percent of the ones that do ultimately fail in clinical trials. After accounting for these costly failures, companies spend $2.6 billion, on average, to bring one new medicine to patients.

Researchers rely on a few successful drugs to recoup their development costs and fund future projects. By making drug development far less lucrative, both bills would cause private sector research investment to plummet.

Some lawmakers acknowledge their plans would slash private research budgets. To offset that drop, they hope to reallocate some of the government's savings to the National Institutes of Health.

But even with this new funding, the NIH won't be able to replicate the work of scientists at private-sector research companies. The NIH mostly conducts early-stage research into specific diseases and molecules. It lacks the expertise, infrastructure, and funding to build on this research and develop treatments.

Large pharmaceutical companies invested more than $90 billion in U.S. research and development in 2016. Small biotech firms invested billions more. By comparison, the NIH's annual research budget is less than $40 billion.

Millions of people suffer from debilitating conditions. Fifty million Americans suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and other diseases that cause a person's immune system to attack healthy cells, organs, and tissue. Most of these ailments have no cure. And existing treatments often cause severe side effects.

These patients are counting on researchers to produce better treatments and cures. Thankfully, U.S. researchers are currently developing more than 4,500 new treatments for a variety of diseases, including type 1 diabetes, lupus, and heart disease.

By stifling this research, the bills would endanger patients' health and lives. Let's hope lawmakers reconsider before they snuff out patients' hopes for a brighter, healthier future.

Mary Stabile is a patient advocate and healthcare expert who lives in the New York City area.

More Resources


01/10/2025
Carter Funeral Brings Rare, Needed Vision of Peace


more info


01/10/2025
Three More Biden Deceptions
The president can believe what he wants to believe, and at this point, there appears to be no convincing him otherwise.

more info


01/10/2025
A Nation Suffers Whiplash Between Biden and Trump
On any other day this might seem strange

more info


01/10/2025
Biden Admin Told Us To Censor True Info


more info


01/10/2025
Facebook Admits Error--'Fact Checkers' Still Complicit
Mark Zuckerberg seems to want to reverse Facebook's censorship efforts, but those publications that participated in the program are complicit.

more info


01/10/2025
In Defense of DEI
DEI refers to three simple but important words: diversity, equity and inclusion. These three values are indispensable

more info


01/10/2025
Woke Religion Burned People's Homes to the Ground
The wildfire devastation of Los Angeles occurred largely as a result of people in power adhering blindly and madly to a very bad religion.

more info


01/10/2025
LA's Poor Communication Should Have Residents Fuming


more info


01/10/2025
Republican Party's New Ground Game


more info


01/10/2025
Opening the DNC's Black Box
Why we're publishing a previously undisclosed list of all 448 members of the Democratic National Committee

more info


01/10/2025
The Most Under-Reported Story About Biden
What was the most under-reported news story during the Biden presidency? In the last week or so, there has been a sudden burst of recognition of the extent to which Democrats and the media worked together to cover up Biden's progressing cognitive decline. One media figure after another has com

more info


01/10/2025
Biden Is No Carter
In terms of character the 46th president doesn't come close to matching the 39th.

more info


01/10/2025
Biden Says He Could've Beaten Trump. That's Delusional
Not only is Biden overestimating his political skills, he's also ungraciously insulting his vice president.

more info


01/10/2025
Dresden in Los Angeles and Our Confederacy of Dunces
LA is burning. And the derelict people responsible are worried that they are found out as charlatans and empty suits.

more info


01/10/2025
The L.A. Apocalypse Was Entirely Predictable
Today on TAP: The hills above my hometown regularly catch fire, and developers regularly build there nonetheless.

more info



Custom Search

More Politics Articles:

Related Articles

Fuel the American Economy with Offshore Energy
Some parting gift: On his way out the White House door, President Barack Obama banned seismic surveying in the Atlantic Ocean from New England south to Virginia.
Oil and Gas Power Americans' Lives
Quick: What do makeup, prosthetics, and heart valves have in common?
Voters say they made the right decision in electing Donald Trump
"Forget the pundits who belittle the resolve of the Trump Administration to live up to the promises made to voters. The fact is that Mr. Trump has a well-documented to-do list and he's lost no time in checking off the tasks he's completed in the less than three months he's been in office," says Dan Weber, president of the Association of Mature American Citizens.
Time to Fire the VA Health System
Rewarding failure appears to be something of a tradition at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Problems with a Carbon Tax
While President Donald Trump wants to cut taxes, there are others who hope to raise them -- by taxing carbon.
March-In Rights Disregard the Law and Risk Patient Health
President Donald Trump recently tweeted that he's "working on a new system where there will be competition in the Drug Industry. Pricing for the American people will come way down!"
Designing a Solution to our Nation's Productivity Crisis
America is mired in a productivity crisis.
Don't Play Favorites for Nuclear Energy
Lawmakers are forcing taxpayers to go nuclear.
A "Made in America" Product Even Free Traders Can Support
President Trump recently announced "Made in America Week," when he emphasized the economic benefits of revitalizing the U.S. manufacturing sector. Many economists push back against such efforts, asserting there are numerous benefits to global trade and economic integration. But there is at least one sector where "Made in America" means a stronger economy, not a weaker one.
Accelerating Generic Drug Approvals Will Save Lives and Dollars
Sitting atop the approval process for prescription medications, Dr. Scott Gottlieb is a little different from some of his more bureaucratic predecessors: He's listening.
100% Pro-Life
In 1992, presidential candidate Bill Clinton argued that abortion should be "safe, legal and rare." By contrast, a March 27, 2017 article in The Washington Times was entitled, "Safe, Legal and Not So Rare," and argued that abortion has instead become "a young woman's rite of passage."
Students Need an Escape from Public School Violence
America's public schools are starting to resemble war zones.
Trump ends Obama-era war on coal
The 'climate changers' came out in full force when the EPA announced earlier this week that it was ending the Obama-era war on coal by scrapping Mr. Obama's Clean Power Plan.
How to Have A Good Day
Everybody needs a good day every now and then!
Sutherland Springs, Church Is Not Safe Anymore
Our hearts go out to the people of Sutherland Springs, Texas. The First Baptist Church of this town and the entire community was ambushed in what resulted as the worst mass shooting in Texas history. Twenty-six people are dead and many others are currently fighting for their lives in intensive care.
FDA Labeling Rules Keep Doctors in the Dark
Should the federal government punish companies for telling the truth?
Free Speech is a Right Guaranteed by the Constitution
America's schools foster intolerance. They've become places where students are taught not to seek out the truth or the thoughts and opinions of others who disagree with them.
Opinion: A chance to nurture the spirit of democracy in Iran
The ruling mullahs of Iran may be able to silence anti-government protestors but they cannot win their hearts and minds. The people want an Iranian Republic, not an Islamic Republic. And you can make book on the fact that the latest unrest that rocked that nation over the New Year's weekend will continue, notwithstanding the brutality of the country's security forces.
Hurting Our Young Americans' Futures
Millions of Americans in states like California, Illinois and Kentucky are already in peril because of the horrendous government mismanagement of teacher's and state worker's retirement money.
Keep Big Government Out of Medicare Drug Pricing Negotiations
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) recently released a report urging Congress to allow federal bureaucrats to negotiate Medicare drug prices directly with pharmaceutical companies. Currently, private insurance companies conduct these negotiations.