The lobby for brand-name drugmakers, PhRMA, is still smarting over Congress and President Joe Biden’s decision last year to require Medicare to negotiate the prices of a limited number of drugs. It marks the first time the government will use its power as a major consumer of medicines to try to drive down costs through direct negotiation. Stephen Ubl, PhRMA’s CEO, told POLITICO that his members anticipate they’ll have to halt development of scores of drugs. That’s because they expect drug price negotiations will significantly reduce the number of years during which they can set prices unfettered. PhRMA’s critics believe that the big drugmakers overstate their importance in driving innovation and will still have plenty of incentive to develop useful therapies. Body blow: But Ubl insisted that Biden’s cancer moonshot – his plan to reduce the cancer death rate by half over the next 25 years – will suffer because drugmakers will have difficulty making money from “small-molecule” medicines that target cancer cells. “We just did a survey of our membership: 63 percent of our members said that they’re going to move away from small molecules,” Ubl said. Plan of attack: So now that Republicans control the House, is PhRMA asking representatives to reopen the drug pricing provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act? No, Ubl said, because Biden and the Democratic majority in the Senate are unwilling to do so. Instead, drugmakers will work on developing evidence to change lawmakers’ minds, he said, which he expects will be easier after the price negotiations take effect. Once the law “gets implemented and patient organizations and others wake up to these implications, you very quickly move out of the theoretical discussion into some very specific discussions,” he said. 2024 nears: PhRMA also plans to use its financial might to help allies win next year’s election. Ubl said his group will “continue to be heavily engaged and will be supporting members that support innovation, support the industry.” Biden’s retort: The White House didn't respond to a request for a rebuttal, but the president doesn’t seem worried. In fact, he’s proposed expanding Medicare drug price negotiations and blasted the drugmakers in March for making “exorbitant profits at the expense of the American people.” | 
