Drug Innovation
Commentary
An anti-science FDA is a threat to our health and prosperity
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration supposedly “implements gold standard science.” Yet the agency appears to relish obstructing scientific progress. Earlier this month, Vinay Prasad, the director of FDA’s vaccine division, rejected Moderna’s application for a new mRNA flu vaccine for adults 50 and older on dubious grounds. The FDA ...
Wayne H Winegarden
February 20, 2026
Commentary
Arizona Republicans should stop trying to ban mRNA vaccines
Despite Democratic Governor Hobbs’ past efforts to expand Arizonans’ access to cutting-edge medicines, the state Legislature continues to propose harmful anti-mRNA bills. The latest example is House Bill 2332, which, if enacted, would deny Arizonans access to promising technologies that could cure cancer and minimize the health consequences from deadly ...
Sally Pipes and Wayne Winegarden
February 11, 2026
Commentary
Cancer Breakthroughs Threatened by D.C.’s Price Controls
Cancer survival rates are on the rise, according to the American Cancer Society’s latest annual report. Seven in 10 patients now live five years or more after a cancer diagnosis. Since 1991, reductions in smoking and improvements in disease management and earlier diagnosis have resulted in a 34% drop in ...
Sally C. Pipes
February 6, 2026
Blog
How can we make drugs more affordable without sacrificing future cures?
How can we make drugs more affordable without sacrificing future cures? To a large extent, the current system works fairly well already to make most of the drugs that Americans take affordable. And that’s because of our robust generics market. Around 90% of prescriptions filled each year are for generics ...
Sally C. Pipes
December 31, 2025
Blog
Do price controls affect which drugs patients have access to and how soon?
Do price controls affect which drugs patients have access to and how soon? They absolutely do. Just look at the situation in Europe. For years, drug companies have been choosing to withhold certain medicines from European markets rather than accept the price constraints imposed by governments there. As a result, ...
Sally C. Pipes
December 24, 2025
Blog
How do price controls damage innovation?
What role do intellectual property laws play in encouraging innovation? They are absolutely essential. IP protections like patents reward those who succeed in creating new medicines and ushering them through the regulatory approval process. They do this by guaranteeing that the IP rights holder behind a new drug will have ...
Sally C. Pipes
December 17, 2025
Commentary
Chaos At The FDA Benefits America’s Rivals—At The Expense Of America’s Patients
Chaos has become the norm at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. And it’s putting American patients, not to mention our country’s world-leading life sciences sector, at risk. Earlier this year, roughly 3,500 FDA employees were laid off. The agency’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, which oversees prescription and ...
Sally C. Pipes
December 15, 2025
Commentary
Democrats Can’t End Private-Sector Drug Innovation Fast Enough
In November, a group of Democrats in the U.S. House made clear that they’ll sacrifice medical innovation for lower drug prices if they ever reclaim Congress. Patients today and tomorrow will be the losers in that trade. Read the op-ed here.
Sally C. Pipes
December 15, 2025
Commentary
How Competition Drives Healthcare Innovation & Affordability
Making healthcare more affordable requires reforms that strengthen competitive markets, as I outlined in a recent Pacific Research Institute1 paper. Unfortunately, as we’re seeing in California and elsewhere, the trend in government is away from competition and toward fewer choices, hurting patients and increasing costs. When applied to other industries, ...
Wayne H Winegarden
December 10, 2025
Commentary
The Compounding Pharmacy Loophole Threatens Safety And Innovation
The new class of GLP-1 medicines exemplifies both the potential of pharmaceutical innovation and the risks to future advancements from ill-considered government policies. The incredible benefits from GLP-1’s are clear – they significantly improve our health and well-being. Risks arise because current federal policies enable activities that jeopardize patient safety ...
Wayne H Winegarden
October 17, 2025
An anti-science FDA is a threat to our health and prosperity
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration supposedly “implements gold standard science.” Yet the agency appears to relish obstructing scientific progress. Earlier this month, Vinay Prasad, the director of FDA’s vaccine division, rejected Moderna’s application for a new mRNA flu vaccine for adults 50 and older on dubious grounds. The FDA ...
Arizona Republicans should stop trying to ban mRNA vaccines
Despite Democratic Governor Hobbs’ past efforts to expand Arizonans’ access to cutting-edge medicines, the state Legislature continues to propose harmful anti-mRNA bills. The latest example is House Bill 2332, which, if enacted, would deny Arizonans access to promising technologies that could cure cancer and minimize the health consequences from deadly ...
Cancer Breakthroughs Threatened by D.C.’s Price Controls
Cancer survival rates are on the rise, according to the American Cancer Society’s latest annual report. Seven in 10 patients now live five years or more after a cancer diagnosis. Since 1991, reductions in smoking and improvements in disease management and earlier diagnosis have resulted in a 34% drop in ...
How can we make drugs more affordable without sacrificing future cures?
How can we make drugs more affordable without sacrificing future cures? To a large extent, the current system works fairly well already to make most of the drugs that Americans take affordable. And that’s because of our robust generics market. Around 90% of prescriptions filled each year are for generics ...
Do price controls affect which drugs patients have access to and how soon?
Do price controls affect which drugs patients have access to and how soon? They absolutely do. Just look at the situation in Europe. For years, drug companies have been choosing to withhold certain medicines from European markets rather than accept the price constraints imposed by governments there. As a result, ...
How do price controls damage innovation?
What role do intellectual property laws play in encouraging innovation? They are absolutely essential. IP protections like patents reward those who succeed in creating new medicines and ushering them through the regulatory approval process. They do this by guaranteeing that the IP rights holder behind a new drug will have ...
Chaos At The FDA Benefits America’s Rivals—At The Expense Of America’s Patients
Chaos has become the norm at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. And it’s putting American patients, not to mention our country’s world-leading life sciences sector, at risk. Earlier this year, roughly 3,500 FDA employees were laid off. The agency’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, which oversees prescription and ...
Democrats Can’t End Private-Sector Drug Innovation Fast Enough
In November, a group of Democrats in the U.S. House made clear that they’ll sacrifice medical innovation for lower drug prices if they ever reclaim Congress. Patients today and tomorrow will be the losers in that trade. Read the op-ed here.
How Competition Drives Healthcare Innovation & Affordability
Making healthcare more affordable requires reforms that strengthen competitive markets, as I outlined in a recent Pacific Research Institute1 paper. Unfortunately, as we’re seeing in California and elsewhere, the trend in government is away from competition and toward fewer choices, hurting patients and increasing costs. When applied to other industries, ...
The Compounding Pharmacy Loophole Threatens Safety And Innovation
The new class of GLP-1 medicines exemplifies both the potential of pharmaceutical innovation and the risks to future advancements from ill-considered government policies. The incredible benefits from GLP-1’s are clear – they significantly improve our health and well-being. Risks arise because current federal policies enable activities that jeopardize patient safety ...