Just as we predicted when the Biden “Inflation Reduction Act” was passed, the drug price controls have slowed medical innovation. UP senior fellow, Tomas Philipson wrote up his latest findings in the WSJ:

Democrats’ 2022 Inflation Reduction Act wasn’t designed to kill cancer innovation, but new evidence reveals that’s what it’s doing. The law strongly discourages drug companies from performing the “follow-on” research after initial discoveries that accounts for a disproportionate share of progress in the fight against cancer…

Two weeks ago, a study I conducted with colleagues at the University of Chicago appeared in Health Affairs. It reveals how much these provisions harm cancer research. In reviewing every Food and Drug Administration-approved cancer drug between 2000 and 2024, we found a large part of innovation in cancer treatment takes place after a therapy is first approved. About 42% of the 184 cancer therapies that were initially approved during that period had follow-on approvals–involving new uses or “indications” for an existing drug–such as treating additional cancer types or being used earlier in the disease, when treatment outcomes tend to be better.

We hope President Trump is paying attention to these warnings and will steer clear of drug price controls.

The full Health Affairs study is available here: