Pharma CEOs grilled by US Senators over drug prices

Pharma bosses faced a grilling from the US Senate’s Finance Committee over the high price of branded prescription drugs in the US compared with other developed countries. Appearing before the committee were pharma CEOs including AstraZeneca’s Pascal Soriot, AbbVie’s Richard Gonzalez, and US-based Merck & Co’s Kenneth Frazier. As well as facing pointed questions over pricing, the CEOs also faced criticism over the “thickets” of patents used to block generic competition and extend the period where they can charge premium prices.
During the three-hour hearing in Washington, DC, the pharma bosses said that prices had to remain high and pharmacy benefit managers – the “middlemen” in the US drug prescription system – are pocketing discounts instead of passing them on to patients. But the chairman of the committee, Chuck Grassley, Republican Senator from Iowa, said: “We’ve all seen the finger pointing. Every link in the supply chain has gotten skilled at that. But, like most Americans, I’m sick and tired of the blame game.” Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat Senator from New Jersey, where many drug and biotech firms are based, offered a “friendly warning” to the CEOs that if they did not take “meaningful action” to reduce “prescription drug prices” then legislation could follow.