Vaccine Approval Important Step Forward Against Pandemic, Reminder of What's at Stake in Drug Pricing Debate

Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America President and CEO Stephen J. Ubl made the following statement after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first COVID-19 vaccine:

"The FDA's approval of Pfizer-BioNTech's mRNA vaccine marks a significant step forward in our work to end COVID-19. But ironically, while we celebrate this major step forward, members of Congress are meeting to advance policies that could inhibit our industry's ability to find future groundbreaking treatments and cures.

"Today's news is evidence of the around-the-clock efforts the biopharmaceutical industry has made to help end COVID-19. We've demonstrated our vital role in protecting America's public health. At the same time, some in Congress want to cut an estimated $1.5 trillion from our innovative companies and threaten the loss of one million jobs in order to fund a multi-trillion-dollar spending bill. This approach would undermine our ability to develop new treatments and jeopardize patient access to life-saving medicines. What's worse, these policies fail to solve the problem of an insurance system that imposes high costs on some of the most vulnerable patients. 

"We are eager to work with all policymakers on solutions that protect patient access, choice and innovation while lowering out-of-pocket costs." 

About PhRMA

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) represents the country's leading innovative biopharmaceutical research companies, which are devoted to discovering and developing medicines that enable patients to live longer, healthier and more productive lives. Since 2000, PhRMA member companies have invested more than $1 trillion in the search for new treatments and cures, including $91.1 billion in 2020 alone.