Big Pharma has too much power

The 479-page tax bill that the Senate just passed has an important provision hidden within — on page 200. It includes a modification to the Orphan Drug Act that scales back the tax credit pharmaceutical companies can receive for clinical trials.

An orphan drug is a pharmaceutical agent that has been developed specifically to treat a rare medical condition. The 1983 Orphan Drug Act has provided pharmaceutical companies with hefty incentives for the past 34 years: federal grants for research and development, a 50 percent tax credit for clinical trials, and a sevenyear exclusive right to sell the orphan drug. The modification in the Senate tax bill scaled back the 50 percent tax credit to 27.5 percent.

This is a rare victory against the pharmaceutical companies, and hopefully represents a trend in regulating the immense wealth these companies have been accumulating at the expense of ill Americans.

The legislative intent behind the 1983 Orphan Drug Act was to incentivize companies to develop drugs that would not otherwise be profitable for them — at least that was the idea. There are currently no laws to regulate how much a pharmaceutical company can charge patients for lifesaving drugs. This means that the Orphan Drug Act ended up incentivizing pharma to develop drugs that have proved to be highly profitable to them.

The companies have made billions bleeding vulnerable patients dry and piling on financial stress to the physical and emotional burden patients already bear with their illnesses. When patients cannot afford their medications, they too often pay with their lives. In addition, pharmaceutical companies represent the largest lobbying force in the United States. Big Pharma has 1,100 lobbyists, and has spent $78 million this year alone lobbying our lawmakers. This gives the companies too much power and contributes to the lack of regulations on drug costs, an issue that still hasn’t been solved.

The drugs that have been developed from the Orphan Drug Act are extremely beneficial to patients living with rare diseases. Without financial incentives, Big Pharma might stop researching and developing orphan drugs. Still, it is clear from companies’ greed that the incentives needed to be scaled back. The modification of the Orphan Drug Act is just one small victory of a long-term fight.

The rampant wealth and power of pharmaceutical companies and the lack of regulation on drug costs must continue to be addressed. MD candidate Ohio State University College of Medicine Columbus a “grinched” version of Portman as a puppet in their protest.

Press secretary Emmalee Kalmbach said the protesters were “professional.” This insinuated that they were paid protesters. This dismissal has been popularized by the Trump administration in order to delegitimize anyone who disagrees with the administration.

Kalmbach or Portman should name one person who was there as a professional. Set the story straight. The protest was organized and conducted by grassroots Indivisible groups.

Dismissing the protesters as “professional” is an attempt to deny constituents their right to address grievances against our government.