President Joe Biden has declared that he wants to “end cancer as we know it,” a goal I wholeheartedly support. Unfortunately, Congress is on the verge of passing a version of the president’s signature legislative proposal — now known as the Inflation Reduction Act — that would make it harder to fight this disease. Lawmakers have made a provision to lower prescription-drugs prices a centerpiece of the bill. That is a laudable goal, but their method — having the federal government “negotiate” prices with pharmaceutical companies — will backfire, leading to less of the medical innovation we need to finally defeat cancer.
