Deomcrats Take Pharma Executives to Task Over Excessive Price Hikes

Pharma industry executives have long justified increasing drug prices by pointing out the costs and risks of research and the greater number of rebates to middlemen. Yet it appears that the day of reckoning may have finally arrived. Congress recently launched a probe into the reasons for excessive price increases for prescription drugs despite record, year-over-year profits for drugmakers, leading house democrats to lambast pharmaceutical executives after discovering that very little was allocated to research and development.

“The documents we have reviewed show that drug companies continue to raise prices—while raking in record profits—and continue to put their products further out of reach for patients in need,” said Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-New York, the committee’s chairwoman, in her opening statement. Read more here.

(Source: Robert King, Fierce Healthcare, October 1, 2020)