Costello: Is there a downside to lowering cost of medications?

I saw that the Biden Administration released 10 drugs that they “negotiated” a new lower price for. It’s commendable that the administration is looking for ways to lower drug costs, but one has to ask themselves – would those 10 drugs, which treat everything from blood pressure to diabetes, have even gotten to the market if this new “drug negotiation” rule was in place a decade ago?

I understand that prices are lower now for these specific drugs, but aren’t patients worse off in the long run if it leads to a lack of new medications and treatments? Won’t investment simply dry up if biotech companies aren’t promised at least the opportunity to recoup their investment?

There’s always two sides of the coin. I hope that our congressional delegation, led by Senator Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema, look more closely at what might happen if this policy continues.

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