Re: Response to Request for Information (RFI): Commonsense Policy Options to Lower Drug Prices for Patients

To: Senate Committee on Finance
Attn: Minority Staff
Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510.

Via Email: [email protected]

Dear Ranking Member Wyden and Members of the Committee,

Thank you for the opportunity to respond to the Committee’s RFI. As a research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University specializing in economic competition, innovation, and governance in healthcare and other critical sectors, my research evaluates how regulations and procurement models impact consumer welfare, competition, and pharmaceutical innovation.

Established in 1980, the Mercatus Center at George Mason University serves as a leading university-based hub for market-oriented research, dedicated to connecting academic insights with real-world policy challenges. Through its graduate programs, research initiatives, and economic analysis, Mercatus works to deepen understanding of how markets function and how they can improve lives. Its mission is to advance knowledge about the institutions that support prosperity and to identify lasting solutions that remove obstacles to individual freedom, peace, and economic well-being. This comment reflects that mission and is not submitted on behalf of any particular interest group. Rather, it is intended to inform and support the decision-making process of the Senate Committee on Finance in the interest of promoting competition and innovation.

While lowering out-of-pocket costs for American patients is a vital objective, policymakers must avoid policies that would lead to higher costs and less access to new cures in the long run by reducing incentives to research, develop and deploy new medicines.

The full PDF download has been made available for timely release and did not undergo the full Mercatus publication process.