New affordable drugs advocacy group pledges six figures in first 2018 endorsement

A new drug-pricing advocacy group on Tuesday announced its first endorsement of the 2018 campaign, backing Rep. David McKinley (R-W.Va.) for standing up to pharmaceutical companies.

The group, Patients for Affordable Drugs NOW, which was founded this year, says it will spend six figures on the race and is seeking to help counterbalance pharmaceutical companies’ spending in November’s midterm elections.

The group is planning to make further endorsements of both Republicans and Democrats.

{mosads}“McKinley earned the support of patients thanks to his leadership on legislation that would lower drug prices, his independence from Big Pharma, and his work to protect rural hospitals from paying more for prescriptions for low-income West Virginians,” the group said in a press release.

The group pointed to his backing of a bill, called the FAST Generics Act, that seeks to speed up cheaper generic drugs’ entrance into the American market.

“David McKinley has consistently been on the right side of legislation to lower drug prices, including introducing a key bill aimed at speeding cheaper generics to market,” David Mitchell, a cancer patient and founder of Patients for Affordable Drugs NOW, said in a statement.