FFC supports IRA provision on drug pricing

Friends Fiduciary has joined fellow ICCR members on an investor letter expressing concern around a spate of lawsuits filed by pharmaceutical companies and their trade associations to “block the implementation of the provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act that will allow the U.S. government to negotiate drug pricing for certain high-cost medicines on behalf of Medicare beneficiaries.” Prescription drug costs continue to be an important issue in American healthcare, with Americans paying more for prescription drugs than anywhere else in the world.  

Friends Fiduciary is part of ICCR’s health equity group which has worked for years engaging pharma companies on a range of issues focused on “long-term sustainable value creation, which prioritizes people and patients over strategies to maximize short-term profits.” More recently we were part of a group of shareholders filing resolutions asking companies to provide more information on how strategies such as patent thickets are considered when setting prices for branded drugs. The investor letter urges pharmaceutical companies to abandon the lawsuits due to increased reputational and legal risks to shareholder value.