Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Drug company execs called to account
Senators chastise CEOs for rising cost of prescription drugs
WASHINGTON — Drawing from their personal experiences, senators on Tuesday chastised drug company executives over the high cost of prescription drugs, as the company officials cautioned that heavy-handed congressional action could jeopardize medical breakthroughs going forward.
Tuesday’s Senate Finance Committee hearing marked the first time lawmakers have called the industry’s top executives to account for rising prices, which are a drain on Medicare and Medicaid and a burden to millions of Americans. The public accounting was a sign that Congress and the White House are moving toward legislation this year to curb costs.
Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., who has Parkinson’s, said the cost of one of his longtime medications had jumped by $90 when he went to refill it recently. “I can’t explain it,” said Isakson, who credited prescription drugs for allowing him to keep working.
Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said Congress intends to respond to the drug price problem in a “measured and effective way,” while New Jersey Democrat Bob Menendez, considered an ally of the industry, issued what he called “a friendly warning.”
“It’s time to be proactive,” Menendez said. “Because if you don’t undertake meaningful action to reduce pharmaceutical costs, policymakers are going to do it for you.”
The CEOs said drug development is a risky and costly undertaking and that prices reflect investment in research and development.
Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier warned that “outrageous solutions” to drug costs could sacrifice industry innovation. It’s a longstanding industry argument used to defend prices on everything from high-tech cancer drugs to diabetes medicines.
Sanofi CEO Olivier Brandicourt said using government “price controls” would not be enough to make medicines affordable for patients.
Sen. John Cronyn, R-Texas, expressed disbelief that drugmaker AbbVie maintains more than 130 patents on Humira, a medication to treat rheumatoid arthritis and other diseases linked to immune system problems. That could ward off generic competition for decades, he said.
“At some point that patent has to end so that the patient can get access to that drug at much cheaper cost,” Cronyn said.
Drug costs are squeezing Americans in a number of ways: New medicines for cancer and other diseases often launch with prices exceeding $100,000 per year even as employers are shifting more costs onto workers. Less expensive drugs for common ailments such as diabetes and asthma often see price hikes of around 10 percent annually. Meanwhile some drugmakers have been buying up once-cheap medicines and hiking prices by 1,000 percent or more.
Democrats say it’s time for Medicare to leverage its purchasing power and directly negotiate prices with the industry, a step most Republicans oppose.
“At some point that patent has to end so that the patient can get access to that drug at much cheaper cost.” Sen. John Cronyn, R-Texas