America is the world leader in medical innovation, producing medicines that improve and extend the lives of millions of patients at home and abroad. The biotech industry is also one of the U.S.'s economic crown jewels, generating hundreds of thousands of high-paying jobs and billions of dollars in high-value exports.

Populist solutions to high drug prices, such as price controls and drug importation, will discourage investment in the costly, time-consuming research and development of vital new treatments and cures. Rather than focus on drug prices in a silo, policymakers should explore solutions that ensure that Americans have access to affordable prescription drugs without discouraging innovation. Please join MI's Tom Coburn for a breakfast lecture on the drug-pricing challenge.

Tom Coburn is the Nick Ohnell Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and an advisor to MI's Project FDA. Previously, he represented Oklahoma in the U.S. Senate from 2005 to 2015. A longtime advocate of FDA reform, Dr. Coburn introduced the “Promoting Accountability, Transparency, Innovation, Efficiency, and Timeliness at FDA” act with Senator Richard Burr in 2012. He is the author, most recently, of Smashing the D.C. Monopoly: Using Article V to Restore Freedom and Stop Runaway Government (WND, 2017).

Dr. Coburn—a graduate of Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma Medical School—continued to see patients while serving in Congress. His specializations are family medicine, obstetrics, and allergy.

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