Even before the pandemic, Kentucky 2nd district Congressman Brett Guthrie has been working to ensure the nation’s pharmaceutical industry continues to innovate new treatments and cures while keeping prescription drug prices affordable for patients.
Working with Democratic Congressman Frank Pallone, the Chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Guthrie developed legislation to fund research into how domestic drug makers can move from batch production processes to continuous methods of manufacturing pharmaceuticals. The idea, according to a release from Guthrie’s office, is that batch manufacturing is outdated, slow, and inefficient, whereas new continuous manufacturing techniques can improve quality control and efficiencies in producing and distributing drugs.
That work became even more critical with the push to quickly find a safe, effective vaccine for COVID. Guthrie says in such situations, Americans shouldn’t have to rely on foreign drug manufacturers and international supply chains.
“We learned during this national pandemic that we have to have domestic production of our pharmaceuticals,” he says. “So how can we still do it and be competitive? We don’t want the price to skyrocket because we brought everything back to America.”
Earlier this year, Guthrie proposed additional legislation to address prescription drug prices. He says his Lower Costs, More Cures Act combines several provisions that have gained bipartisan support in Congress in recent years, including a plan to force pharmaceutical companies to bring generic versions of drugs to patients sooner.
“If you change some small part of your formula, you can keep your patents for longer and it prevents generics from coming to the marketplace,” he says. “We want to simplify that and say that you can’t.”
Other provisions would overhaul Medicare Part B to cap a patient’s out-of-pocket expenses and extend the payment schedule for deductibles. Guthrie says Democrats also support those ideas but want to take them farther. He says under the Democrats’ plan, pharmaceutical companies would have to accept the Medicare-negotiated prices for drugs or else face stiff financial consequences.
“If you think that price is too low and you refuse to take it, we’re going to tax 95 percent of your revenue from the previous year on that drug,” says the Congressman.
Guthrie says that amounts to price setting, which he contends will cost more money in the long run and squelch the kinds of innovations that lead to breakthrough treatments.
COVID Vaccines
As the ranking Republican on the Health Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Guthrie has been closely following the actions of the Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control during the pandemic
“I’ve been really involved in making sure that we move forward with science,” he says.
Guthrie credits the partnership between the Trump Administration and the private sector for bringing the COVID vaccines to fruition so quickly. Although many Republicans are resisting getting vaccinated, Guthrie says he believes it was Democrats who first spread fear and misinformation about the vaccines in the runup to last year’s presidential election. But after the election, when the vaccines rolled-out, he says that switched and more Republicans voiced vaccine hesitancy and misinformation.
Even though he opposes vaccine mandates, the Congressman says he encourages people to get the COVID vaccine even if there have been rare instances of side effects.
“If anybody is taking any pharmaceutical, there are some risks and side effects,” says Guthrie. “These work. I think they are safe and effective.
“We don’t know the long-term effects of COVID,” he adds. “I think the risk of having long-term effects from COVID far outpace any of the concerns with the vaccine.”
The Congressman says one way to promote vaccinations among resistant Republicans would be for former President Donald Trump to get his booster shot on national television.
Fighting Drug Addiction
Another side effect of the pandemic has been a resurgence in lethal drug use. According to the state Office of Drug Control Policy, 1,964 Kentuckians died of a drug overdose in 2020. That’s a 49 percent increase in overdose fatalities from 2019.
“People are alone, people are isolated, and they’re turning to drugs and alcohol,” says Guthrie. “We have to deal with that.”
The Congressman says he’s working to ensure that the money Congress has allocated for treatment and recovery programs is being used properly. He recently joined Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron for a townhall meeting in Danville to discuss drug addiction and human trafficking issues. The Congressman says he heard from law enforcement officers who contend the threat of stiff prison sentences often encourages low-level offenders to implicate the bigger dealers and suppliers who are bringing drugs into the commonwealth.
But Guthrie says sentencing guidelines shouldn’t be overly restrictive.
“I want people who are simple, low-level drug users to be diverted to recovery so they can get their life together,” he says. “We’d rather have them treated because a lot of time their crime comes because of their addiction, and if you cure their addiction, you cure their criminal behavior.”
The Congressman says he’s willing to work with anyone to address the drug crisis, but he says he is against efforts to legalize illicit substances.
Withdrawal from Afghanistan
Guthrie says he disagrees with the Biden Administration’s decision to withdraw military troops from Afghanistan. He says he doesn’t understand why the U.S. can’t maintain some troops in the country as a stabilizing presence.
“We have peacekeepers in the Sinai Peninsula, we have peacekeepers in Korea,” says Guthrie. “So why not have a small peacekeeping force there?”
The Republican also says it was inappropriate for President Biden to blame the Afghani military for the fall of the country to the Taliban, especially after the U.S. abandoned the Bagram Air Base, leaving Afghan troops without air support. He says some 50,000 Afghan service members have died for their country in the past seven years alone.
Guthrie says the Afghan men and women who fought alongside U.S. troops and share our values should have the opportunity to start new lives in America.
