Colorado’s Prescription Drug Affordability Board started in 2023 researching, reviewing and establishing more affordable costs for some of the most expensive, essential prescription drugs. As a physician, I have been following and supporting the work of the board, knowing it will help my patients gain better access to the medications they need. A bill in the Colorado General Assembly right now is threatening to disassemble the board. This would be a huge loss for patients in Colorado.

Prescription drugs are one of the most important tools in a doctor’s toolbox — helping patients manage and treat their health conditions and lead healthier, longer lives. To date, Colorado’s Prescription Drug Affordability Board is one of the most essential tools for making life-saving prescription drugs more affordable.

The board, passed with bipartisan support in the General Assembly and signed by Gov. Jared Polis in 2021, is tasked with reviewing prescription drug costs and setting upper payment limits on all types of high-cost drugs. Doctors like me support the review process of the board because our patients deserve access to the right drugs available to treat their illnesses. My patients should not have to choose between a better treatment of their disease over other daily essentials.

Also read: Transparency, accountability, patient voices needed on Rx price board | OPINION

Just as the Prescription Drug Affordability Board is gaining steam, Big Pharma is trying to undercut it by passing Senate Bill 60. This bill prevents the board from reviewing drugs for patients with rare diseases. These drugs, called “orphan drugs,” are cash cows for pharmaceutical companies. Our federal orphan drug system gives pharmaceutical companies generous incentives and patent protections for years, allowing the companies to profit enormously. These companies work to keep their incentives and protections, even when the drugs are approved to treat more common diseases. These companies also threaten if the board reduces the costs of these medications, they’ll stop making them or selling them in Colorado.

Stay up to speed: Sign up for daily opinion in your inbox Monday-Friday

These despicable scare tactics are the same ones pharmaceutical companies have used in other states that have passed prescription drug affordability boards. What the companies fail to mention is they spend more on advertising than on research and development. They also ignore the obvious fact patients with rare diseases need to be able to afford their medications if they are to be active members in society. Whether a patient’s condition is rare or common, they deserve to be able to access the drugs they need to remain healthy. But right now too many patients simply can’t afford their prescriptions. A whopping one in three Coloradans struggles to afford their prescription medicine.

I treat too many patients who fall into this category. Take one of my patients for example who suffers from psoriatic arthritis. She has struggled to pay for the high cost drugs that allow her to live a life without constant joint pain and rashes. Since finding a way to pay for the best drug out there to treat her condition, Stelara (one of the drugs selected to be reviewed by the board), her joint pain has subsided so much she rarely needs to use her wheelchair and is able to walk on her own and carry out everyday tasks. However, she is lucky to have figured out a way to afford her medications. I see, over and over, patients not so fortunate. They struggle to treat their medical conditions effectively while struggling to pay for rent, food and transportation. Despite these patients’ care teams knowing how to best manage their conditions, out-of-control costs often get in the way. Sometimes I’m forced to prescribe a medication I know will be less effective, or carry more side effects, just because my patient says they can’t afford the more effective one. Sometimes my patients admit they split their pills or simply leave the pharmacy empty handed after learning how much the medicine I prescribed them will set them back financially.

The problem of skyrocketing drug costs is only getting worse. Coloradans already pay on average between 65% and 85% more for the same medications than people in other countries. During the past decade, prescription drug prices have risen by 159%, with net prices increasing at rates three times greater than that of inflation.

Meanwhile, 35 big drug companies had a gross profit of $8.6 trillion between 2000 and 2018. The average chief executive of the top companies brought in around $16 million in compensation in 2019.

Big Pharma should be held accountable, which is what Colorado’s Prescription Drug Affordability Board aims to do. Senate Bill 60 would prevent the board from reviewing hundreds of medications Coloradans need, allowing Big Pharma to continue charging exorbitant prices for these rare but essential medications. On behalf of our patients and all Coloradans who rely on prescription drugs, doctors like me urge the General Assembly to vote against Senate Bill 60.

Dr. Allison Costello is a family medicine physician in Denver and a member of the Colorado Chapter of the Committee to Protect Health Care, a nationwide health care advocacy group.