April 16, 2026
The Honorable Bill Cassidy, M.D.
Chairman
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
United States Senate
428 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Bernie Sanders
Ranking Member
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
United States Senate
428 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Re: Full Committee Hearing – “Making Medicines More Affordable: How Competition
Can Lower Drug Prices”
Dear Chairman Cassidy and Ranking Member Sanders,
On behalf of the Pharmaceutical Industry Labor-Management Association (PILMA), I
write to express our strong support for today’s hearing and the Committee’s
commitment to making prescription drugs more affordable for American families.
PILMA represents a unique partnership between America’s leading biopharmaceutical
companies and the union workers who build and maintain their world-class research
and manufacturing facilities.
Since January 2025, pharmaceutical companies have committed to investing nearly
$600 billion in the United States – a historic surge of investment that will create
thousands of jobs, including construction and maintenance jobs for union pipefitters,
electricians, ironworkers, and other skilled trades workers who will build, maintain, and
renovate the facilities where live-saving innovation happens.
As the Committee advances solutions to reduce costs for patients, we urge a careful
approach that preserves the innovation and domestic investment underpinning both
improved health outcomes and job creation. Policies such as price controls on
prescription drugs risk weakening the research and development pipeline that produces
medical breakthroughs, as well as the capital investments that support high-quality
American jobs.At the same time, we encourage the Committee to increase its scrutiny of the supply
chain intermediaries such as vertically integrated insurance corporations and their
affiliated pharmacy benefit managers — whose opaque business practices too often
intercept savings before they reach patients at the pharmacy counter. True affordability
reform must follow the dollar from manufacturer to patient and ensure that every link in
the chain is operating transparently and in patients’ best interests.
PILMA stands ready to be a constructive partner in this work. Our membership brings
together the perspectives of both industry and labor, and we welcome the opportunity to
contribute to solutions that serve patients, workers, and the broader American economy.
We look forward to the dialogue tomorrow’s hearing will advance.
Thank you for your leadership on this critical issue.
Sincerely,
AJ Stokes
Executive Director
PILMA