The Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday grilled senior executives from seven of the largest pharmaceutical companies for raising the list price of prescription drugs in the U.S.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore, the ranking member on the committee, called out drug giant AbbVie for raising the price of its blockbuster rheumatoid arthritis drug Humira. He said the company doubled the price of a 12-month supply for the drug to $38,000 from $19,000 over the course of six years.
"Can the patients opt for a less expensive alternative? They can't, because AbbVie protects the exclusivity of Humira like Gollum with his ring. Thick cobwebs of patents and shadowy deals with drugmakers, all of them are in place to keep the cash flowing," Wyden said, referring to the slimy "Lord of the Rings" character who coveted the ring of power.
Executives of AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Pfizer and Sanofi were testifying before the committee at a hearing called "Drug Pricing in America: A Prescription for Change, Part II."
Congress and President Donald Trump's administration have made lowering drug prices one of their top priorities. The committee, led by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, argues that prescription drug costs, which totaled more than $333 billion in 2017, are too high and the pace of drug price increases is "unsustainable."
The pharma leaders instead criticized middlemen, including pharmacy benefit managers, for pocketing discounts instead of passing them along to patients.
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