WWFH Statement on the Finalization of the GLOBE Model

We Work For Health is deeply disappointed by the Administration’s decision to move forward with both the Global Benchmark for Efficient Drug Pricing (GLOBE) model for Medicare Part B. Despite widespread concerns from innovators, patient advocates, employers, and workers, this policy advances a Most-Favored Nation-style pricing framework that threatens America’s leadership in biomedical innovation, the millions of jobs supported by the life sciences sector, and future patient access to lifesaving medicines.

The United States remains the global leader in medical innovation because it has fostered an environment that rewards the extraordinary risk, investment, and perseverance required to develop new treatments. Bringing a single medicine to patients can take more than a decade and billions of dollars in investment, with only a small fraction of potential therapies ever reaching approval. Policies that inject uncertainty into this ecosystem inevitably reduce investment, discourage research, and slow the development of future cures. We remain concerned that the GLOBE model will disproportionately affect research into diseases that primarily impact Medicare populations, including Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, rare diseases, and other serious conditions where patients urgently need new treatment options.

This policy also arrives at a time of increasing global competition for life sciences investment. As countries such as China aggressively expand their biotechnology sectors and attract research capital, the United States should be strengthening policies that encourage innovation, manufacturing, and high-value employment here at home. Instead, this model risks accelerating investment away from the U.S. and weakening one of the nation’s most important economic and strategic advantages.

Just as importantly, this model does not offer a sustainable solution for patients. While policymakers share the goal of reducing costs and improving affordability, policies that weaken innovation ultimately come at the expense of future treatments and cures. Americans should not have to choose between affordability and medical progress. We can achieve both through policies that encourage competition, accelerate the availability of generic and biosimilar medicines, improve transparency throughout the supply chain, and ensure savings are passed directly to patients.

We Work For Health remains committed to working with Congress, the Administration, and stakeholders across the healthcare system to pursue solutions that lower costs for patients while preserving America's global leadership in medical innovation, protecting high-quality jobs, and ensuring that future generations benefit from continued biomedical breakthroughs. We will continue to advocate for policies that strengthen innovation, support workers, and expand patient access to lifesaving and life-enhancing medicines.  

To learn more, see WWFH’s comments to the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on the GLOBE model.