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By Andrew Spiegel & Marcia K. Horn

As longtime patient advocates who have guided thousands of cancer patients through treatment decisions, clinical trials and insurance battles, we’ve witnessed the life-changing power of medical innovation and the devastating consequences when treatments arrive too late.

Today, we’re sounding the alarm about a policy that threatens the future of that innovation.

President Trump’s recent executive order calling for a “most favored nation” (MFN) pricing model for prescription drugs may appear, on its surface, to address affordability concerns. In reality, it risks undermining the system that delivers breakthrough treatments to Americans with cancer and other life-threatening conditions.

An MFN approach would peg U.S. drug prices to those paid in other developed countries, effectively mandating that Americans pay no more than the lowest price offered abroad.

This might sound like a common-sense reform. Yet, it ignores a critical reality. Many of the countries that would be used as price benchmarks under MFN keep costs down by delaying — or denying — access to therapies through government pricing boards.

In the United Kingdom, France, Canada and many other countries, patients routinely wait months — or even years — longer than Americans for breakthrough treatments. In cases where manufacturers are unable to offer their products at the government-mandated prices, patients can’t access the therapies at all.

For patients with rare cancers, genetic disorders and treatment-resistant conditions, the stakes couldn’t be higher. These communities rely on continued research into therapies that may benefit relatively small populations but deliver transformative outcomes. With drug development timelines stretching over a decade and overall success rates around 10 percent for compounds entering clinical trials — and often lower for oncology candidates — the opportunity for a sound return on investment risk isn’t a luxury; it’s essential to sustaining the innovation pipeline.

We share concerns about affordability. Many of the patients we support struggle daily with the cost of care. If the goal is to make medicines more affordable for patients, the focus should be on reforms such as ensuring negotiated discounts are passed through to patients at the point of sale and fixing insurance structures that place the greatest burden on the sickest individuals.

Importing foreign price controls through MFN would be a retreat from a proven model that’s consistently delivered the world’s most advanced treatments to Americans before anyone else.

As patient advocates, we’ve seen too many families lose loved ones while waiting for scientific breakthroughs. The recent MFN executive order might deliver a short-term political win, but implementing it would be a devastating long-term loss for patients whose best hope lies in continued medical innovation. Because American patients get these drugs first, they’ll be affected soonest, but patients worldwide rely on U.S. drug innovation. MFN might end up standing for medicines for no one.

We can and must pursue affordability and access without sacrificing the scientific progress that improves and saves lives.

(Andrew Spiegel, Esq., is the chief executive officer of the Global Colon Cancer Association. Marcia K. Horn, JD, is the president and CEO of the International Cancer Advocacy Network. This piece originally appeared in the DC Journal.)