The chief executives of three main pharmaceutical firms defended the costs of their medication 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 number of the most generally used prescription drugs.
Lawmakers, together with Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the panel’s chairman, famous that the businesses charged extra within the United States than in different rich international locations, accusing them of profiting on the expense of American sufferers. The pharmaceutical executives — from Johnson & Johnson, Merck and Bristol Myers Squibb — conceded that sufferers within the United States paid an excessive amount of however mentioned that new drugs arrived there sooner than wherever else on the earth.
Mr. Sanders, an unbiased who has made reining in drug costs a signature reason behind his late-career years in Congress, acknowledged that the businesses had produced lifesaving medication. But he singled out a number of broadly used drugs, together with Bristol Myers Squibb’s blood thinner Eliquis, which he famous might be bought for a lot much less in Canada than within the United States.
“Those drugs mean nothing to anybody who cannot afford it,” Mr. Sanders mentioned, including that “millions and millions of our people cannot afford the outrageously high cost of prescription drugs in this country.”
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 have been typically greater within the United States than in different rich international locations.
But they mentioned 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 medication and restricted insurance coverage protection.
“The United States has built a health care system that prioritizes patient and physician choice as well as the broad and rapid availability of cutting-edge medicines,” Mr. Boerner mentioned.
At one level, Mr. Sanders, who accused the businesses of utilizing their drug income to complement executives and shareholders at the same time as sufferers struggled to pay for drugs, 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 came about 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 provides to the makers of the primary 10 medication chosen for negotiations, a listing that features Eliquis and 4 different medication offered 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.
As the pharmaceutical executives sat earlier than them, lawmakers described anguished selections that sufferers with excessive drug prices had confronted. Mr. Sanders talked about a girl in Nebraska who he mentioned had died of most cancers after she arrange a GoFundMe marketing campaign to pay for Keytruda, a blockbuster most cancers drug from Merck.
Senator Christopher S. Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, mentioned that one among his constituents on Eliquis had to decide on between the price of the drugs, meals and lease.
Republicans on the committee pointed to what they mentioned have been the rightful market incentives that the businesses used to cost their medication.
“In capitalism, if you’re running an enterprise where you have a fiduciary responsibility to your owners, you try and get as high a price as you can,” mentioned Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah. He added: “You think Chevrolet sits back and says, ‘Gosh, how can we get the price of this Chevrolet down?’ No, it’s like, ‘How high a price can I get and maximize the profit 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 two firms instructed final month that Mr. Sanders was searching for to retaliate for his or her lawsuits difficult the Medicare worth negotiation program.
Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, the highest Republican on the committee, mentioned the panel’s technique had been to “threaten a subpoena when C.E.O.s are suspicious that they won’t get a fair shake, hold the hearing, get sound bites, then pick another set of C.E.O.s for a show trial.”
“But we don’t pass meaningful legislation,” he mentioned.
Prices for brand-name medication within the United States in 2022 have been on common at the very least thrice as excessive as these in 33 different rich international locations, a latest report funded by the Department of Health and Human Services discovered, even when taking into consideration reductions that cut back how a lot American well being plans and employers pay.
Comparing drug costs within the United States with these in different international locations might be tough as a result of the well being care methods are so completely different. While European international locations 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.
While many prescribed drugs might be purchased for a lot much less at European pharmacies, insurance coverage protection is usually broader within the United States, that means that American sufferers typically face decrease out-of-pocket prices than Europeans for a similar drugs.
At the listening to, the drug firm executives blamed middlemen generally known as pharmacy profit managers for saddling sufferers with excessive out-of-pocket prices. Those companies procure reductions from producers that cut back the invoice for American well being plans and employers however not for sufferers. Benefit managers earn more money when the sticker worth of a drug is greater, however sufferers typically must pay extra. Lawmakers have proposed making modest modifications to the practices of profit managers.
Source: www.nytimes.com