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The chief executives of three main pharmaceutical firms defended their costs in entrance of the Senate well being committee on Thursday, 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 medicines.
Lawmakers, together with Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the panel’s chairman, famous that the businesses charged extra in america than in different rich nations, accusing them of profiting on the expense of American sufferers. The pharmaceutical executives — from Johnson & Johnson, Merck and Bristol Myers Squibb — conceded that sufferers in america paid an excessive amount of however stated that new medicines arrived there quicker than anyplace else on this planet.
Mr. Sanders, an impartial who has made reining in drug costs a signature explanation for his late-career years in Congress, acknowledged that the businesses had produced lifesaving medicine. However he singled out a number of broadly used medicines, together with the blood thinner Eliquis from Bristol Myers Squibb, which he famous may very well be bought for a lot much less in Canada than in america.
“These medicine imply nothing to anyone who can’t afford it,” Mr. Sanders stated, including that “thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of our folks can’t afford the outrageously excessive value of prescribed drugs on this nation.”
The three executives who testified — Joaquin Duato of Johnson & Johnson, Robert M. Davis of Merck and Christopher Boerner of Bristol Myers Squibb — acknowledged that drug costs had been usually increased in america than in different rich nations.
However they stated decrease costs in Europe and Canada, the place governments are extra centered on constraining prices, got here with essential downsides, like lengthy waits for brand spanking new medicine and restricted insurance coverage protection.
“The US has constructed a well being care system that prioritizes affected person and doctor alternative in addition to the broad and speedy availability of cutting-edge medicines,” Mr. Boerner stated.
At one level, Mr. Sanders, who accused the businesses of utilizing their drug earnings to complement executives and shareholders at the same time as sufferers struggled to pay for medicines, tried to solicit a promise from Mr. Boerner that the corporate would decrease the U.S. sticker worth of Eliquis to that in Canada. Mr. Boerner declined, citing the variations in Canada’s well being system.
The listening to happened as a brand new federal program authorizing Medicare to barter the costs of some expensive medicines is getting underway. Federal well being officers final week made their preliminary gives to the makers of the primary 10 medicine chosen for negotiations, 5 of that are bought by the businesses whose executives testified on Thursday. Drugmakers, together with all three firms represented on the listening to, have filed a flurry of lawsuits arguing that the negotiation program is unconstitutional.
Because the pharmaceutical executives sat earlier than them, lawmakers described anguished selections that sufferers with excessive drug prices had confronted. Mr. Sanders talked about a lady in Nebraska who he stated had died of most cancers after she arrange a GoFundMe marketing campaign to pay for Keytruda, a most cancers drug from Merck.
Senator Christopher S. Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, stated that one among his constituents on Eliquis had to decide on between the price of the drugs, meals and hire.
Republicans on the committee pointed to what they stated had been the rightful market incentives that the businesses used to cost their medicine.
“In capitalism, when you’re operating an enterprise the place you’ve gotten a fiduciary duty to your house owners, you try to get as excessive a worth as you’ll be able to,” stated Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah. He added: “You suppose Chevrolet sits again and says, ‘Gosh, how can we get the worth of this Chevrolet down?’ No, it’s like, ‘How excessive a worth can I get and maximize the revenue for my shareholder?’”
The listening to got here after a standoff between Mr. Sanders and two of the pharmaceutical executives, Mr. Duato of Johnson & Johnson and Mr. Davis of Merck, who agreed to testify solely after being threatened with subpoenas. The 2 firms recommended final month that Mr. Sanders was looking for to retaliate for his or her lawsuits difficult the Medicare worth negotiation program.
Senator Invoice Cassidy of Louisiana, the highest Republican on the committee, stated the panel’s technique had been to “threaten a subpoena when C.E.O.s are suspicious that they gained’t get a good shake, maintain the listening to, get sound bites, then decide one other set of C.E.O.s for a present trial.”
“However we don’t move significant laws,” he stated.
Costs for brand-name medicine in america in 2022 had been on common at the very least 3 times as excessive as these in 33 different rich nations, a latest report funded by the Division of Well being and Human Companies discovered, even when making an allowance for reductions that scale back how a lot American well being plans and employers pay.
Evaluating drug costs in america with these in different nations could be difficult as a result of the well being care techniques are so totally different. Whereas European nations depend on a centralized negotiator, the U.S. system is fragmented, with tens of 1000’s of well being plans and employers counting on intermediaries to deal with their negotiations.
Whereas many prescribed drugs could be purchased for a lot much less at European pharmacies, insurance coverage protection is usually broader in america, which means that American sufferers generally face decrease out-of-pocket prices than Europeans for a similar medicines.
On the listening to, the drug firm executives blamed middlemen often known as pharmacy profit managers for saddling sufferers with excessive out-of-pocket prices. These companies procure reductions from producers that scale back the invoice for American well being plans and employers however not for sufferers. Profit managers earn more money when the sticker worth of a drug is increased, however sufferers usually need to pay extra. Lawmakers have proposed making modest adjustments to the practices of profit managers.
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