BILL PLANNED IN RESPONSE TO EPIPEN PRICING FUROR

In the first legislative response to the EpiPen pricing furor, a bipartisan group of Senate and House members plans to introduce a bill Thursday that would force drug makers to tell the Department of Health and Human Services why any price increase of more than 10% is justified at least a month before the increase.

Companies would have to disclose spending on research and development, manufacturing, marketing and advertising spending on the drug, as well as profit information — and all but the confidential or proprietary details would be made public.

That’s according to the office of Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., a co-sponsor of the Fair Accountability and Innovative Research (FAIR) Drug Pricing Act.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. is co-sponsoring the legislation in the Senate and Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., is the House cosponsor, Baldwin’s office said.