June 8, 2026
The Honorable Jeff Landry
Governor of the State of Louisiana
900 North 3rd Street
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70804
Dear Governor Landry,
On behalf of the 2,870 members and supporters of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) in the state of Louisiana, I urge you to veto SB 401, which would establish a Prescription Drug Affordability Board to recommend imposing price controls on prescription drugs.
SB 401 would create a ten-member Prescription Drug Affordability Board charged with reviewing brand-name drugs, biologics, generic drugs, and biosimilars based on increases in production and wholesale acquisition costs. Wholesale costs are essentially list prices and do not represent what a patient will pay at the pharmacy after negotiations have occurred among pharmaceutical companies, insurers, pharmacy benefit managers, and pharmacies to lower out-of-pocket patient costs. Nevertheless, the board would have full authority to recommend an arbitrary upper payment limit. For each drug included on the board’s critical prescription drug list, “the board shall require the manufacturer of the drug to report … the prices for the drug that are charged to purchasers outside the United States, by country, for a representative set of countries determined by the board.” Countries that impose government-controlled drug prices benefit from fewer new treatments, longer delays, and reduced access to lifesaving medicines. Louisiana should not follow that path.
Throughout history, price controls have distorted markets, hurt innovation, and exacerbated the problems they were created to fix. SB 401 would cap the amount that commercial insurance plans and pharmacies pay for prescription medicines. Capping prices will restrict access to vital medicines. According to a January 2025 National Community Pharmacists Association report, 32.8 percent of independent pharmacists “have already decided not to stock one or more of the drugs listed in the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation” and 60.4 percent of independent pharmacies are considering following suit.
Expanding government control over the healthcare system by imposing price controls would also harm patients by stifling the development of new treatments and cures. On average, it takes 10-15 years and $2.6 billion to bring a drug from lab to market. A National Bureau of Economic Research simulation model explored the impact of price controls on the U.S. pharmaceutical market. The report estimated that cutting prices by 40 to 50 percent in the U.S. will lead to between a 30 to 60 percent reduction in early-stage research and development. The impact of price controls on research and development include an invisible graveyard of patients who will never have access to live-saving medicines that are never developed.
Louisiana’s congressional delegation should hold the Food and Drug Administration’s feet to the fire to clear the backlog of generic drugs awaiting approval. This would be a far more effective way to help bring down the price of prescription drugs than to pass this costly legislation. Government price-fixing will not lower costs for Louisiana patients. For these reasons, I urge you to veto SB 401.
Sincerely,
Tom Schatz
President, CCAGW