Price fixing hurts

The news that Pfizer has developed a COVID vaccine that appears to be more than 90 percent effective is certainly cause for excitement and a testament to the exact type of innovation of which these biopharmaceutical companies are capable. We should all know that the best way to stop the spread of COVID right now is still to wear a mask, keep our social distance and wash our hands, but a vaccine is true hope for the future.

When we do get to the other side of this pandemic it will be a vaccine that gets us there, and this can only come through the dedicated and scientific work of biopharmaceutical researchers.

Biopharma companies have already agreed to do everything they can to develop the vaccine quickly and then distribute it widely, all at no cost. And yet, there are still those focused on a government price setting of prescription medications, policies that would threaten the very work that will end the pandemic and get us back to living normal lives.

In the midst of a global pandemic caused by a largely unknown virus, should our elected leaders really consider implementing policies that will negatively impact the ability of the biopharmaceutical industry to do its job?

The fight against COVID-19 is going to be prolonged and difficult, and the biopharmaceutical scientists and researchers have to be protected from policies that might impede their chances to do so.

Kathy Clemens

Glenview