Statement on the Senate HELP Committee’s Drug Pricing Hearing

February 8, 2024 - The nonpartisan patient advocacy group, Survivors for Solutions, founded by John “CZ” Czwartacki, an MS patient of 30 years, provided a statement in response to the US Senate HELP Committee’s drug pricing hearing:

“This hearing was a prime example of politicians gazing upon the imperfect innovation ecosystem, not with educated suggestions or constructive policy ideas, but with ruinous aims. The price control schemes they discussed mimic foreign healthcare system protocol of prioritizing cost-savings over choice, more advanced treatments, and hope. By wanting to model our drug pricing system off other countries, committee members are paying no attention to the access restrictions those patients face and their countries’ reliance on American innovation because policies have driven their R&D efforts into the ground.

What patients really can’t afford is their doctors saying their medication is no longer available or that they have exhausted all treatment options for their disease with no alternatives left. The price control schemes Senator Sanders and his colleagues want to implement would nevertheless force patients to endure a world like this with fewer medical care options.”