Drug Innovation
Commentary
A lawsuit that may kill tomorrow’s cures
On Wednesday, May 6, the California Supreme Court will hear a case that could upend the economics of medical innovation. Roughly 24,000 plaintiffs are suing pharmaceutical company Gilead over one of its HIV drugs. They do not claim that the drug failed to work, nor that it was defectively manufactured, ...
Sally C. Pipes
May 4, 2026
Commentary
Can You Sue A Drug Company For Not Inventing Faster?
This week, the California Supreme Court is set to hear a case that could have far-reaching consequences for medical science. At issue is Gilead Sciences’ HIV treatment tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, or TDF. Tens of thousands of plaintiffs allege they suffered side effects while taking the drug. They are not arguing ...
Sally C. Pipes
May 4, 2026
Commentary
Price Controls Could Prevent the Next ‘Miracle Drug’
The death rate from cancer in the United States has fallen by more than one-third since 1991. HIV-related mortality has dropped ninefold since 1995. Death rates for Alzheimer’s, chronic respiratory diseases, and stroke have all declined in recent years, too. These gains didn’t happen by accident. They’re the result of ...
Sally Pipes and Wayne Winegarden
May 1, 2026
Commentary
Don’t undermine the system that incentivized GLP-1 development
A left-leaning pressure group recently sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asking his agency to rescind the patent rights earned by the developers of GLP-1 drugs. Some 12% of U.S. adults have taken these medications. Rescinding the patents is a dangerous idea that ...
Wayne H Winegarden
March 16, 2026
Commentary
The Legislature shouldn’t decide what vaccines to make illegal
A bill currently making its way through the Idaho Legislature could put the health of countless people at risk. Idaho’s Senate Health Committee recently atdvanced legislation that would impose a two-year moratorium on certain human gene therapy products and ban the use of mRNA vaccines for children and pregnant women ...
Sally Pipes and Wayne Winegarden
March 11, 2026
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
A lawsuit that may kill tomorrow’s cures
On Wednesday, May 6, the California Supreme Court will hear a case that could upend the economics of medical innovation. Roughly 24,000 plaintiffs are suing pharmaceutical company Gilead over one of its HIV drugs. They do not claim that the drug failed to work, nor that it was defectively manufactured, ...
Can You Sue A Drug Company For Not Inventing Faster?
This week, the California Supreme Court is set to hear a case that could have far-reaching consequences for medical science. At issue is Gilead Sciences’ HIV treatment tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, or TDF. Tens of thousands of plaintiffs allege they suffered side effects while taking the drug. They are not arguing ...
Price Controls Could Prevent the Next ‘Miracle Drug’
The death rate from cancer in the United States has fallen by more than one-third since 1991. HIV-related mortality has dropped ninefold since 1995. Death rates for Alzheimer’s, chronic respiratory diseases, and stroke have all declined in recent years, too. These gains didn’t happen by accident. They’re the result of ...
Don’t undermine the system that incentivized GLP-1 development
A left-leaning pressure group recently sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asking his agency to rescind the patent rights earned by the developers of GLP-1 drugs. Some 12% of U.S. adults have taken these medications. Rescinding the patents is a dangerous idea that ...
The Legislature shouldn’t decide what vaccines to make illegal
A bill currently making its way through the Idaho Legislature could put the health of countless people at risk. Idaho’s Senate Health Committee recently atdvanced legislation that would impose a two-year moratorium on certain human gene therapy products and ban the use of mRNA vaccines for children and pregnant women ...
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, ...