This year, nearly 300,000 Americans were diagnosed with prostate cancer. That's 300,000 daddies, brothers, and best friends who got hit with sledgehammer news that they have cancer. Then came the second sledgehammer—the cost of treatment.
A drug called Xtandi could save their lives, but the price runs up to $190,000 a year. It's a familiar story: a diagnosis could force a family into bankruptcy to save the life of someone they love, while a giant drug company rakes in huge profits from every desperate patient.
Last week, the Biden Administration confronted Big Pharma by announcing a plan to allow the government to let more competitors manufacture a drug if taxpayers supported the research that helped develop it—and if the company holding the patent has jacked up the price so high that patients couldn't get access. This action could slash drug prices for millions of Americans. Drug companies are already fighting the plan tooth and nail, but the President should not waver. He should follow through by finalizing the plan and lowering drug costs.
Xtandi is a poster child for how Big Pharma rips off Americans. All three of Xtandi's patents acknowledge that federal dollars supported development of the drug. Taxpayers also funded research that led to treatment for Hepatitis C, medicines to prevent HIV, and the technology that underlies Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine. Those drugs........