Nonprofit pledges ‘more than seven figures’ in push to slash drug prices

A patient-advocacy group said Thursday it is prepared to spend “more than seven figures” to promote 2018 midterm candidates who are committed to slashing drug prices, saying the campaign is needed to counteract lobbying from the pharmaceutical industry.

Patients For Affordable Drugs NOW, a nonprofit, said the campaign will engage with voters directly and run television and digital ads to promote candidates who push reform legislation.

“Anyone who’s been a patient or a family member of a patient knows that drug corporations rake in record profits and rip off Americans struggling to pay the bills,” said group founder David Mitchell, a cancer patient. “In poll after poll, Americans say lowering prescription drug prices should be a top priority in Congress yet time after time, Congress ignores it. No more. We will give patients a voice in the midterm elections to support real steps that will lower drug prices.”

The groups said it sent out questionnaires to more than two dozen incumbent members of Congress, congressional challengers, and governors, hoping to get a sense of their plans to slash drug prices, and will announce specific support for candidates in the coming months. It says it’s open to supporting both Democrats and Republicans.

Politicians of all stripes, including President Trump, say drug prices are too high.

“I have directed my administration to make fixing the injustice of high drug prices one of our top priorities. Prices will come down,” Mr. Trump said in his State of the Union address.

He also tasked Alex Azar, the new Health and Human Services Department secretary, with slashing prices, though liberal voices want the administration to go beyond the market-oriented reforms that Mr. Azar spoke about during his confirmation hearings.

Democrats want to use the power of the government to set lower prices, like other countries do.

Patients for Affordable Drugs NOW said its campaign will support ideas across the spectrum, from speeding cheaper generics to market to negotiating down prices under Medicare.

If a candidate is willing to “push on one thing and get something done, that is a positive sign,” said the group’s president, Ben Wakana, who served as a chief HHS spokesman under President Obama.

The nonprofit is principally funded by the Action Now Initiative, an advocacy organization started by billionaires John and Laura Arnold.