AstraZeneca announced it raked in $11.4 billion this quarter – a 17 percent increase over last year excluding COVID-19 medicines – during their earnings report today. While they make billions, Americans pay exorbitantly high prices for prescription drugs. AstraZeneca opposed the Biden administration reforms that lower prescription drug prices.
- During the call, CEO Pascal Soriot bragged about the company’s strong performance, and when he was asked about the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act on AstraZeneca’s business, he said that for cancer drugs and expensive oral medicines, the law’s reductions in out of pocket costs for Medicare patients are “a big positive.” Meanwhile, Soriot says that reduced profits due to the Drug Price Negotiation Program will lead the company to delay selling certain medicines in the U.S.
- AstraZeneca’s asthma and COPD drug Symbicort is among the drugs with the highest spending under Medicare Part D, totaling $1.95 billion in spending in 2021 alone. It is likely to be selected for the new Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program in 2026 or 2027.
- Drug companies charge Americans prices up to four times higher than prices in other countries, forcing patients to cut pills and skip doses to make ends meet.
- Over 80 percent of voters support giving Medicare the power to negotiate, making it the most popular provision in the Inflation Reduction Act.
The Inflation Reduction Act brings down prescription drug costs for everyday Americans, especially seniors, by capping the price of insulin, giving Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices, and limiting the amount people have to pay each year for prescription drugs.
Read more about why Medicare needs the power to negotiate lower drug costs and the five drugs that tell the story here.