Senate hearing on the price of drugs: 6 takeaway

Seven pharmaceutical company executives, representing US $ 140 billion in revenue, testified before the Senate Finance Committee on February 26.

During the high stakes hearing, lawmakers asked senior executives to describe and defend their pricing strategies, which prevents them from sleeping at night and their thoughts on various drug reform bills.

Six points to remember and revealing moments of the hearing of nearly 3.5 hours:

1. Pharma blamed PBMs. Leaders of the pharmaceutical industry have repeatedly claimed that the directors of the benefits of pharmacies play an important role in high drug prices. Leaders said PBMs had strong bargaining power over drug manufacturers and often threatened to exclude drugs from formulary lists.

Senators agreed that PBMs would probably play a role, but Democratic Senator Ron Wyden, chair of the committee, said the highest prices were dictated by the drug makers themselves. He accused the drug makers of "procrastinating" by trying to reduce the importance of catalog prices.

Wyden told executives that the PBMs "would be spending their day" and that the Feb. 26 hearing focused on what drug companies could do to lower prices.

Drug sector officials also said that the discount system was a factor in the high price of drugs. During the hearing, Big Pharma largely supported the HHS rule project to reorganize the delivery system.

2. The drug manufacturers have come out unscathed. In Martin Shkreli, there were no infamous moments or remarks, such as at the 1994 hearings, in which lawmakers asked tobacco industry leaders to recognize their role in triggering violence. 39, a public health crisis. Instead, drug abusers have largely escaped legislators' attempts to shame them for unacceptable behavior.

In one case, the seven leaders said they had never blocked access to drug samples for generic drug manufacturers, STAT reports. However, an FDA database shows that Pfizer and AstraZeneca have been accused of doing so by generic drug companies.

Overall, the tone of the hearing was respectful and committee members barely winced when the executives blamed the other leaders in the sector, including MFIs and insurers.

February 25 Reuters The report warned that stocks of pharmaceuticals could lose audience, but that the seven have not moved, according to the report. The Wall Street Journal.