WASHINGTONÂ Â Â Â Â Â During a Senate committee hearing on Thursday, lawmakers blasted the CEOs of three large drug companies, claiming that many Americans cannot afford the expensive prescriptions that are required to survive due to the high expense of healthcare in the country.
According to Sanders, individuals cannot afford the prescriptions.
“How many people suffer needlessly and die as a result of that?” he asked. Nobody is aware of it. However, I’m estimating in the millions.
Joaquin Duato of Johnson & Johnson, Robert Davis of Merck, and Chris Boerner of Bristol Myers Squibb testified before the senators. The executives from J&J and Merck only consented to speak after Sanders threatened to subpoena them.
Shortly after the Biden administration began negotiating drug prices for the ten most expensive prescription drugs for Medicare beneficiaries, there was a hearing.
In an attempt to halt the talks, which are mandated by the Inflation Reduction Act, all three pharmaceutical companies have sued the federal government.
Shortly after the Biden administration began negotiating drug prices for the ten most expensive prescription drugs for Medicare beneficiaries, there was a hearing.
In an attempt to halt the talks, which are mandated by the Inflation Reduction Act, all three pharmaceutical companies have sued the federal government.
One of the three firms produces five of the ten medications that are the subject of negotiations: the blood thinners Eliquis and Xarelto, the diabetic medication Januvia, the blood cancer medication Imbruvica, and the arthritis medication Stelara.
Three executives were summoned to testify because of the substantial differences in the costs that the three drugmakers charge for the identical medicine in the United States and other nations, according to Sanders.
As said by Sanders:
Eliquis is sold by Bristol Myers Squibb for a yearly list price of around $7,100 in the United States, $900 in Canada, and $650 in France.
The price of J&J’s Stelara is $16,000 in the UK but $79,000 in the US.
Januvia from Merck costs around $6,000 in the United States, $900 in Canada, and $200 in France.
The CEOs justified the expenses by stating that the high costs are justified by the “value” the drugs provide to patients.
They said that since American patients must pay more for their drugs, they sometimes get them years ahead of those in other nations.
“This is in stark contrast to many systems outside the United States, which, while they may deliver lower prices, carry the often overlooked trade-off that patients often wait longer for new medicines.” Boerner, who works for Bristol Myers Squibb,
The CEOs said that they would not be able to fund the development of new pharmaceuticals if the United States reduced the cost of its prescription drugs.
“Future treatment breakthroughs hinge on what we do now,” Davis said.
Sanders retorted that the corporations spend less on R&D and more on stock buybacks, dividend payments to investors, and CEO salaries.
Sanders and Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., the ranking member of the committee, both agreed that medicine costs in the United States are too high. But he was also concerned that aggressive medication pricing regulations might deter pharmaceutical companies from investing in novel therapeutics.
“Now we want to create incentives, but we also want to be able to provide access; without access, it’s as if the drug has never been invented,” he said.
The CEOs voiced their support for reducing customer out-of-pocket expenses and criticised pharmacy benefit managers and insurance firms for acting as middlemen and negotiating rebates with drug producers on behalf of insurance plans.
Sen. Maggie Hassan, a Democrat from New Hampshire, questioned the CEOs’ claims that they were in favor of cheaper prescription prices and questioned why they were “actively trying to prevent generics from entering the market.”
For instance, Bristol Myers Squibb’s Eliquis was initially scheduled to open to generic competition in 2019, but the pharmaceutical company filed additional patents to prolong the drug’s exclusivity for an additional number of years.
To Hassan, Boerner responded, saying, “We have allowed generic entry in 2028.”
Hassan said, “So we have two generics ready to go.” “Your original patent also expired, but you are still actively trying to prevent generics from coming to market.”
