Clinton told audiences in Louisiana and Arkansas on Monday that her plan to force manufacturers to reveal their internal costs could save $100 billion over a decade. Castellani said her plan focused on a few breakthrough drugs instead of the overall industry, where competition has made most drugs easily affordable.

"These proposals are driven by the false notion that spending on medicines is fueling overall health care cost growth and ignores how the current marketplace for medicines helps keep spending in check. In reality, the share of health care spending attributable to medicines is projected to continue to grow in line with overall health care cost growth for at least the next decade. This is because competition and negotiation by payers result in steep discounts in medicine prices, and as a result of the current patent system 90 percent of medicines used are low-cost generic copies,” he said.

Her solution would “erode the U.S. leadership in biomedical innovation, spur loss of high-tech STEM jobs and undermine U.S. competitiveness” and would actually lead to higher drug costs for seniors. The chilling effect on R&D would be substantial over time, he added.

"It may not be known for decades the full consequences of policies that shift time, resources and energy away from searching for cures for the most challenging and complex diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and the most difficult forms of cancer. And yet the stakes could not be higher for the patients who are waiting for new medicines that can improve their lives and offer them more time with loved ones” he said.