Senator Braun has been a champion for lower drug prices

Dr. KRISTEN TURCHAN
Guest Columnist

It is no secret that today, pharmaceutical companies wield a lot of power which allows them to charge high prices for prescription medications. However, this has reached an unacceptable level as it is said that more than 18 million Americans cannot afford the treatments they need.

In Indiana, patients with life-threatening diseases like cancer, diabetes, and asthma pay tens, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars annually on life saving medications. This is unsustainable, and something must be done because patients need affordable healthcare, including prescription medications.

While pharmaceutical companies are critical for research and development of new medications and treatments, the industry has increasingly become too focused on the bottom line at the expense of helping patients. For instance, large pharmaceutical companies leverage power over certain prescription drugs and legally threaten generic companies to keep them from bringing more affordable competitors to the market. As a result, many of these generic companies delay bringing their product to market, stifling competition and keeping prices high at the expense of hard-working Hoosiers.

Thankfully, Indiana has a fighter in the Senate in our Senator Mike Braun. To stand up to these unfair practices, Senator Braun has introduced multiple pieces of legislation to stop these companies’ anti-competitive tactics, has pushed for drug price transparency, and has spoken of the dangers of “pay-for-delay,” when pharmaceutical companies pay generic drug companies under the table to delay bringing their competing drugs to market.

Earlier this year, Senator Braun co-sponsored bipartisan legislation that would promote competition in the pharmaceutical industry to lower drug prices. The Stop STALLING Act would prohibit consideration of petitions to the FDA, many of which are submitted by pharmaceutical companies to delay or terminate a competitor’s FDA approval.

Unfortunately, stalling the FDA-approval process isn’t the only anti-competitive tactic these companies deploy to keep prescription drug prices high. There is more work that needs to be done, including addressing unfair patent manipulation, another tactic that Senator Braun has worked to stop in his efforts to reduce healthcare costs.

As a physician, I have spent my entire career working to put my patients first as we work together to address their health concerns. Unfortunately, over the past many years, like most other healthcare providers, I have had to spend increasing amounts of time addressing challenges in the healthcare system such as these which ultimately results in less time available for providing care. I am grateful to have a partner and advocate in Washington like Senator Mike Braun who will continue fighting to make sure patients have reasonable access to the medications they need.

Senator Braun has a strong record of going against behavior that is not in the best interest of patients. That’s why we need him to continue supporting similar pieces of legislation, like those in the upcoming omnibus bill that Congress must pass to fund the government.

By continuing to support legislation that would ban “pay-for-delay” and others that would hinder efforts by big pharmaceutical companies to manipulate patents or unnecessarily prolong their patent monopolies, we can help ensure that Hoosiers have access to the healthcare that is deemed necessary by physicians and other care providers.

Dr. Kristen Turchan is a pediatric dermatologist based in Carmel. She is a member of the latest class of the Richard G. Lugar Excellence in Public Service Series.