Sen. Tim Sheehy introduces bill to fight foreign drug price manipulation, target Germany’s “freeloading”
WASHINGTON REPORTER
Sen. Tim Sheehy (R., Mont.) is introducing legislation Wednesday aimed at ending the practice of foreign governments forcing American patients to shoulder the cost of developing new medicines while paying artificially low prices themselves.
The Washington Reporter has learned that Sheehy’s “Use Sovereignty to Reduce Rx Act”, or USTRx Act, would establish a new pharmaceutical trade negotiator at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, require annual reports exposing foreign drug pricing abuses, and create a framework for the United States to respond when high-income countries use price controls that discriminate against American innovation.
Sens. Ted Budd (R., N.C.) and Dave McCormick (R., Pa.) will be joining Sheehy in introducing the legislation. Rep. Jodey Arrington (R., Texas) is leading companion legislation in the House.
The legislation comes as the Trump administration has already intensified its scrutiny of Germany’s pharmaceutical pricing practices. As the Washington Reporter previously reported, U.S policymakers are expressing growing concern towards Germany that the country’s pricing system systematically undervalues innovative American medicines and shifts research costs onto U.S. consumers.
Sheehy has also been outspoken on the issue, as well on the need to reduce costs for Montana families.
“Europe has been freeloading off of our defense and drug industry for years,” Sheehy previously told the Washington Reporter. “Germany needs to pay their fair share so we can bring prices down for American consumers.”
The bill states that “pharmaceutical price controls in foreign markets distort global trade flows and competition by depressing the prices of innovative drugs and exploiting pharmaceutical innovations researched and developed in the United States.”
The bill further concludes that those policies “unduly rel[y] on United States patients and taxpayers to finance global pharmaceutical innovation” and argues foreign governments should bear a fairer share of the cost of developing lifesaving medicines.
At the center of the proposal is the creation of a Chief Pharmaceutical Trade Negotiator within USTR.
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