WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Patients For Affordable Drugs Action launched four new ads featuring patients from Arizona, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin sharing their experience with high drug prices and calling on voters to support candidates who will stand up to Big Pharma. Today’s digital ads are an expansion of the organization’s seven-figure national ad and grassroots campaign to elevate patient stories and push candidates to detail their plans to lower drug prices.
“Patients are done waiting for change. They are standing up, sharing their stories, and demanding that candidates commit to addressing skyrocketing drug prices,” said David Mitchell, a cancer patient and the president of Patients For Affordable Drugs Action. “This campaign gives candidates the opportunity to demonstrate to voters that they will stand with patients against Big Pharma and fight to lower drug prices.”
The ads will run on digital platforms across the state and feature prominently on a campaign website that includes the stories of patients across the country facing skyrocketing drug prices. The website serves as an action hub and gives voters digital tools to demand that 2020 candidates commit to plans to lower drug prices.
The latest state digital ads feature:
Blythe Kauhn, Chandler, AZ, type 1 diabetes: “I feel like more people need to understand that it’s not cheap to have conditions that don’t go away. We don’t get to say, ‘Oh, I don’t want to have diabetes this month.’”
Kris Garcia, Denver, CO, bleeding disorders: “We should have that peace of mind that we’re going to be okay, without having to sit there and look at our bank account.”
Rachel Burnett, Pittsburgh, PA, Crohn’s disease: “It’s so unfair to have these illnesses, and it’s so unfair to have to pay so much just to stay alive.”
Leah Clark, Columbus, WI, Crohn’s disease: “I have big plans for my future, and I can’t afford to have the high cost of drug prices getting in the way of my accomplishments.”
The national campaign will run in 14 key states across the country and give voters a platform to call on candidates to speak out on drug prices. It launched with a TV and digital ad featuring patient Candice Brown, who depends on a $6,700-per-month medication to manage her ulcerative colitis.
Patients For Affordable Drugs Action is a political action committee founded to make sure politicians hear from real patients and not just the pharmaceutical industry political machine. Big Pharma spent $298.2 million lobbying in 2019 and donated $29.3 million to help elect politicians in the last election cycle. Patients For Affordable Drugs Action received principal funding from Action Now Initiative, LLC. Patients For Affordable Drugs Action is an independent organization and refuses funding from any organization that profits from the development or distribution of prescription drugs.
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Paid for by Patients For Affordable Drugs Action, www.p4adaction.org. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.