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The chief executives of three main pharmaceutical firms are set to seem in entrance of the Senate well being committee on Thursday to defend how a lot they cost for medication in the US, drawing them additional right into a confrontation with lawmakers and the Biden administration over the price of a few of the most generally used prescription drugs.
The three executives scheduled to testify — Joaquin Duato of Johnson & Johnson, Robert M. Davis of Merck and Christopher Boerner of Bristol Myers Squibb — are anticipated to conflict with the well being committee’s chairman, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an impartial who has made reining in drug costs a signature explanation for his late-career years in Congress.
Mr. Sanders plans to focus the listening to on why drug costs are larger in the US than in different rich nations. His employees has singled out a number of broadly used medication, together with Eliquis, a blood thinner made by Bristol Myers Squibb, and Januvia, a diabetes drug from Merck, that may be purchased for a lot much less in Canada and Europe than in the US.
The listening to comes as a brand new federal program authorizing Medicare to barter the costs of some expensive drugs is getting underway. Federal well being officers final week made their preliminary presents to the makers of the primary 10 medication chosen for negotiations, an inventory that features Eliquis and Januvia.
5 of the ten medication picked for value talks are made by the businesses whose executives will probably be testifying on Thursday. Drug makers, together with all three firms that will probably be represented on the listening to, have filed a flurry of lawsuits arguing that the negotiation program is unconstitutional.
Mr. Sanders has accused pharmaceutical executives of unduly benefiting from common drugs on the expense of Individuals struggling to pay for prescriptions. He has prompt that the businesses use the medication to counterpoint their prime executives and stockholders.
Two of the pharmaceutical executives, Mr. Duato of Johnson & Johnson and Mr. Davis of Merck, agreed to testify after being threatened with subpoenas. Mr. Sanders had deliberate to carry a committee vote final week on whether or not to challenge them, however the executives agreed to seem on the listening to earlier than such a vote was taken. The 2 firms prompt final month that Mr. Sanders was in search of to retaliate for the lawsuits that they had filed difficult the Medicare value negotiation program.
Costs for brand-name medication in the US in 2022 had been at the very least 3 times as excessive as these in 33 different rich nations, a current report funded by the Division of Well being and Human Companies discovered, even when considering reductions that may scale back how a lot American well being plans and employers pay.
Evaluating drug costs in the US with these in different nations might be difficult as a result of the well being care methods are so completely different. In the US, negotiations over drug costs are fragmented throughout tens of 1000’s of well being plans and employers, whereas European nations depend on a centralized negotiator. And whereas many pharmaceuticals might be purchased for a lot much less at European pharmacies, European nations don’t essentially provide broad insurance coverage protection for these medication for his or her residents.
Sarah Ryan, a spokeswoman for the Pharmaceutical Analysis and Producers of America, or PhRMA, the drug business’s primary lobbying group, stated in an announcement that new medicines arrived quicker in the US than in every other nation. She blamed middlemen often called pharmacy profit managers for top out-of-pocket prices for Individuals.
The three executives set to testify on Thursday are the most recent to seem earlier than Mr. Sanders since he grew to become the well being committee’s chairman early final 12 months. In March, Moderna’s chief government testified in regards to the value of his firm’s Covid-19 vaccine, and the chief executives of three main insulin producers — Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi — appeared in entrance of the committee at a listening to in Could.
Michelle Mello, a well being coverage professional at Stanford Legislation College, stated that lawmakers may use the listening to to construct momentum round additional legislative motion on drug pricing, akin to increasing the Medicare value negotiation program to embody extra medication.
“We may very well be doing a lot extra with this device,” she stated.
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