On the eve of the US Republican party’s failed bid to repeal the Affordable Care Act (AHA) of former US president, Barack Obama and replace it with its own plan, Pfizer CEO Ian Read told the National Press Club in Washington that the US healthcare system is flawed in that insurance plans are shifting the burden of drug prices to patients.

Read said Pfizer “understands its responsibility to produce medicines that bring significant value and are competitively priced.” However, “Individuals cannot afford modern pharmaceuticals.”

The US pharma giant’s chief executive argued for a shared-risk approach where drugmakers are not solely responsible for providing access. He noted that Pfizer gave away 1.7 million prescriptions last year, “as a last resort because the insurance system is failing” those patients.

But Read said he opposes any kind of pharmaceutical price controls, which he called a “blunt instrument used by governments that stifle innovation and choice.” In his view, the US healthcare system should be overhauled to “get the incentives right.” Risks and rewards, he said, could be lodged with healthcare providers such as hospitals rather than with payers.

Under the present system, Read remarked, healthcare incentives center on short-term budget considerations rather than on the “long-term savings potential of groundbreaking medicines.”

 Because of the widespread opposition to a wave of staggering drug price increases in a country where many people have insurance policies that don’t include drug reimbursements, have high deductibles or are even uninsured, several US pharmaceutical producers have recently agreed so-called pay-for-performance deals for medicines used to treat conditions such as diabetes and heart conditions.

On Mar. 24, the US House of Representatives was due to vote on a replacement package for AHA, popularly known as Obamacare, but House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican, withdrew the bill when it became apparent that it would not get the required number of votes.

The chances for the bill’s passage narrowed sharply earlier in the day when its backers bowed to an ultra-conservative Republican party faction supported by well-placed multimillion-dollar enterprises and agreed to remove the last vestiges of Obama’s healthcare act, including maternity and neonatal care benefits.