Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla talks during a press conference with the president of the European Commission after a visit to oversee the production of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine on the factory of U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer, in Puurs, Belgium, April 23, 2021.
John Thys | AFP | Getty Images
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla on Thursday said pharmaceutical firms will likely take legal motion against Medicare drug price negotiations, which aim to chop costs for older Americans, but will likely reduce company profits.
“I feel that there shall be legal motion, but I’m undecided if we’ll have the opportunity to stop anything before 2026 or not,” Bourla said during a live-streamed interview with Reuters.Â
Bourla referred to a provision within the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act that may allow the Medicare program to barter prices on the most costly pharmaceuticals annually.
The primary negotiations start in September and latest prices will go into effect in 2026.
He said probably the most “certain way” to stop negotiations can be to call on Congress to introduce laws that may revise the federal government’s plan. But Bourla noted he’s “not optimistic” about that occuring.Â
Democrats control the Senate and President Joe Biden would likely veto any such bill.
Some drugmakers are already preparing to fight Medicare drug negotiations, industry sources told Reuters.Â
Bourla called the plan “negotiation with a gun to your head.”
He argued it can cut pharmaceutical profits and force hundreds of firms to tug back on developing life-saving medicines.Â
“They shall be very careful where and the way much they spend money on research,” he said.Â
Bourla called it “unlucky” the federal government enacted a law that “creates lots of disincentives” for the industry, even after seeing the pivotal role firms played throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.Â
“We’re coming out of a world health crisis that became a financial crisis because of this of Covid. However the only reason why we’re here today was because we had a thriving life sciences industry,” Bourla said. “They did the tests, the vaccines, the treatments, you name it.”
Pfizer and rival drugmaker Moderna are the leading developers of Covid vaccines.
Despite his criticism, Bourla acknowledged some positive features of the law for patients, comparable to lower out-of-pocket costs for medicines.
One other provision of the Inflation Reduction Act requires Pfizer and other prescription drug firms to refund Medicare through rebates if the costs of their drugs rise faster than the speed of inflation.Â
Five of Pfizer’s drugs are among the many first set of 27 Part B pharmaceuticals that shall be subject to Medicare inflation rebates starting April 1, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in March.
