CSRxP Poll: Voters Overwhelmingly Reject Big Pharma’s Bogus Blame Game, Support Market-Based Solutions to Lower Rx Prices by Holding Big Pharma Accountable

Americans from Across the Political Spectrum Want Congress to Pass Bipartisan Legislation to Crack Down on Big Pharma’s Abuse of the Patent System and Boost List Price Transparency

Washington, D.C. – The Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing (CSRxP) released the results of a national survey today. The bipartisan survey was jointly conducted by two industry leading pollsters, Republican Erik Iverson of Moore Information Group (MIG), and Democrat Celinda Lake of Lake Research Partners (LRP).

“Big Pharma’s egregious anti-competitive practices and price-gouging have caused one-in-three voters in the United States to personally experience financial difficulty affording prescription drugs in the last year,” said CSRxP executive director Lauren Aronson. “Despite the pharmaceutical industry spending millions of dollars on a bogus blame game, Americans overwhelmingly identify Big Pharma as the culprit for out-of-control prescription drug prices and want lawmakers focused on holding brand name drug companies accountable.”

“Voters from across the political spectrum support bipartisan, market-based solutions to lower prescription drug prices by boosting competition from more affordable alternatives and increasing transparency to shine a light on the worst Big Pharma offenders,” Aronson continued. “Headed into the 2024 election cycle, lawmakers would be especially wise to recognize that more than four-in-five voters say they are more likely to back a candidate for Congress if they support the Cornyn-Blumenthal bill to help crack down on Big Pharma’s abuse of the patent system.”

The survey of 900 registered voters was commissioned by CSRxP and conducted by MIG and LRP from July 22-27, 2023. A memo from the pollsters on the results of the survey can be found HERE.

Key takeaways include:

Prescription Drug Prices and Big Pharma’s Egregious Anti-Competitive Tactics Are a Top Concern for U.S. Voters

• 70 Percent: Nearly 70 percent (69 percent) of American voters say they are concerned about prescription drug prices.
• One-in-Three: 33 percent of voters say they or a family member had financial difficulty affording a prescribed medication in the last 12 months, an eight-point increase from a January 2023 survey commissioned by CSRxP.
• More than 90 Percent: 91 percent of voters say they are concerned with findings from a recent analysis that “anti-competitive patent abuse tactics used by big pharmaceutical companies cost U.S. consumers an additional $40.7 billion in prescription drug expenses in one year alone.”
• 89 Percent: Nearly 90 percent of voters find it concerning to hear “Humira is the number one selling drug in the world with $21.2 billion in sales in 2022” and that “the drug’s manufacturer AbbVie filed hundreds of patents and secured 130 patents on this one drug to block competition for decades in the United States, while increasing its price. In 2022, Humira brought in more than $21 billion in revenue – more than all 32 NFL teams combined.”

Americans Rightly Identify Big Pharma as the Culprit for Rising Prescription Drug Prices and Reject The Pharmaceutical Industry’s Bogus Blame Game

• 60 Percent: A clear majority of American voters (58 percent) name pharmaceutical companies as most responsible for rising prescription drug prices, 40 percent more than the next most blamed entity: The U.S. government (18 percent). No other entity broke single digits. A majority of Republicans, Democrats and independent voters all identify the pharmaceutical industry as responsible.
• 87 to 11: By a margin of 76 percent, the vast majority of voters agree with the statement, “Lawmakers in Congress should reject the pharmaceutical industry’s blame game targeting others in the supply chain, and instead focus on holding brand name drug companies accountable to lower prescription drug prices” after being told, “the pharmaceutical industry has waged a multi-year campaign seeking to blame others in the prescription drug supply chain for high drug costs, including pointing a finger at pharmacy benefit managers and hospitals.” This includes more than 60 percent of Democrats, Republicans and independents who “strongly” agree with the statement.

Voters Overwhelming Support Market-Based Solutions to Hold Big Pharma Accountable and Lower Prescription Drug Prices by Boosting Competition and Increasing List Price Transparency

• More than Three-in-Four: 78 percent of voters say they support the bipartisan Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act, or Cornyn-Blumenthal, which is designed to help lower prescription drug prices “by preventing large pharmaceutical companies from abusing the U.S. drug patent system to keep their monopolies on brand-name drugs and block competition from lower priced drugs, like generics.” This includes more than 73 percent of independents, 75 percent of Republicans and 86 percent of Democrats.
  • 88 Percent: Nearly 90 percent of voters say they are more likely to support the solution because it focuses on holding large pharmaceutical companies accountable to lower drug prices.
  • 81 Percent: More than four-in-five (81 percent) voters say they would be more likely to vote for a candidate for U.S. Senate or the U.S. House of Representatives who supported The Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act (Cornyn-Blumenthal).
• 87 Percent: 87 percent of voters say they support the bipartisan FAIR Drug Pricing Act, that would “increase list price transparency, which is the price set by pharmaceutical companies on their products, as a deterrent to outrageous price hikes. The legislation would require pharmaceutical companies to publicly report price increases of more than 10 percent in a one-year period or 25 percent over a three-year span.” This includes 84 percent of independents, 86 percent of Republicans and 90 percent of Democrats.
  • 90 Percent: Additionally, 90 percent of voters support “increasing list price transparency by requiring price increases above a certain threshold be publicly reported, to help arm patients and policymakers with insight into pharmaceutical companies’ pricing decisions and shine a light on the most outrageous price hikes.”

Read the memo from the pollsters on the results of the survey HERE.

Read more on solutions to crack down on Big Pharma’s egregious anti-competitive tactics and The Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act (Cornyn-Blumenthal) HERE.

Learn more about solutions to increase list price transparency and The Fair Drug Pricing Act HERE.

Read more on market-based solutions to lower drug prices and hold Big Pharma accountable HERE.