JUDY WOODRUFF: The costs of health care area pocketbook issue for most Americans, and rising drug prices, an essential part of that. Beings in the U.S. waste more on prescriptiondrugs than in different countries, about $1,200 a year per person. Insurers and the government pay the largestshare. But it’s expensing customers more coin in premiumsand out of pocket. Anger has “re building” over affordabilityand specialty doses that overhead tens of thousands of dollars. That was the backdrop for a much-anticipatedSenate hearing today involving the drug manufacturers. John Yang has that report. JOHN YANG: It has been decades since thismany leaders of the top drug manufacturers have faced lawmakers under promise. Senators in both parties slammed out at theirprofit margins and pressed them to explain why drug rates retain rising.SEN. RON WYDEN( D ), Oregon: All of you that arehere today are here because the way you have been doing business is unacceptable. JOHN YANG: Finance Committee Chairman ChuckGrassley determined the hue, tearing into the executives of seven pharmaceutical monsters for shirkingresponsibility. SEN. CHARLES GRASSLEY( R ), Iowa: Another yes-or-noquestion: When you’re company prices its remedies, do you taken into consideration the fact that a keyplayer is the federal government? Let’s start with AbbVie. RICHARD GONZALEZ, CEO, AbbVie Laboratory: We estimate all the directs when we realize tenacities on expenditure and affordability. SEN. CHARLES GRASSLEY: So, that patently wouldinclude the federal government? AstraZeneca. PASCAL SORIOT, CEO, AstraZeneca: Yes, we do. SEN. CHARLES GRASSLEY: OK, Bristol-Myers. MAN: Yes, Senator. SEN. CHARLES GRASSLEY: Johnson& Johnson.WOMAN: Yes. SEN. CHARLES GRASSLEY: Merck. KENNETH C. FRAZIER, CEO, Merck: Yes. SEN. CHARLES GRASSLEY: Pfizer. MAN: Absolutely. SEN. CHARLES GRASSLEY: And Sanofi. MAN: Yes. JOHN YANG: The ministerials all said they werewilling to do more to make sure beings could render the medications they need, but offered fewdetails. They said middlemen were to blame, and thatdeveloping new medicines compels billions of dollars in experiment. PASCAL SORIOT: Our company is dedicated toscience and innovation. And in 2018, we invested virtually$ 6 billionin research and development. KENNETH C. FRAZIER: We’re proud to have deployed7 0,000 dosages of our experimental Ebola vaccine in the Congo. JENNIFER TAUBERT, Executive Vice President, Janssen: We focus on detecting and developing transformational remedies for some of theworld’s most challenging cancers, including numerou myeloma, prostate cancer, HIV, schizophrenia, and Crohn’s disease, amongst other. Janssen endowed $8.4 billion in researchand growing last year in the quest for medical breakthroughs.JOHN YANG: Democrat Maria Cantwell of Washingtonstate pressed the executives to acknowledge that the government could help bring pricesdown. SEN. MARIA CANTWELL( D ), Washington: I’m askinga really fundamental question, like the VA’s ability to negotiate on narcotic tolls. Do you think that states having that sameability drives down price? KENNETH C. FRAZIER: I would say that the VAwould get a lower price and the states would get a lower expenditure if you’re willing to gointo environmental issues where that could be imposed by the states. SEN. MARIA CANTWELL: Or the federal government departments? JOHN YANG: The hearing comes as PresidentTrump targets dose rates. He’s proposed resolving Medicare and Medicaidrebates to middlemen and cutting the price Medicare pays for some drugs.DONALD TRUMP, President of the United Country: At long last-place the remedy companionships in foreign countries will be held accountable for howthey rigged the system against American shoppers. JOHN YANG: Today, senators threatened congressionalaction. Various zeroed in on Richard Gonzalez, CEOof AbbVie, the maker of Humira. It’s the bestselling drug in the world usedfor rheumatoid arthritis and other illness, yearly marketings nearly $20 billion. Over the last six years, the drug’s pricehas doubled to $ 38,000 a year. More than 100 AbbVie patents and deals withother drug makes mean that lower-price competitors will not reached the U.S.Market before 2023. SEN. JOHN CORNYN( R ), Texas: How many patents? I’m sorry. RICHARD GONZALEZ: One hundred and thirty-six. SEN. JOHN CORNYN: One hundred and thirty-six patentson one stimulant? RICHARD GONZALEZ: But, well, remember, Humirais like nine different drugs or 10 different medicines. SEN. JOHN CORNYN: I thought you said to SenatorStabenow it was the same molecule. RICHARD GONZALEZ: It is the same molecule, but it plows different surrounding, and if you look at that patent portfolio …( CROSSTALK) SEN. JOHN CORNYN: So, you use the same moleculeto treat different problems, you can get a patent on that treatment? RICHARD GONZALEZ: Certainly. SEN. JOHN CORNYN: Mr. Chairman, I know this topicis the subject of — or within the jurisdiction of the Finance Committee, but those of uslike you and me who are also on the Judiciary Committee that has competence over the patentsystem, I think this is an area that we need to look in through our Judiciary Committeeauthority. JOHN YANG: Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, thepanel’s top Democrat, questioned Gonzalez if his compensation, which was $22 million in 2017, is held to Humira sales.SEN. RON WYDEN: Would you make a smaller bonusif you slipped the price of Humira? RICHARD GONZALEZ: Humira was one element ofa rectified of monetary factors that were evaluated as part of my compensation. It’s obviously a very significant productfor us, so it’s clear that it would be part of that evaluation. SEN. RON WYDEN: I would like that in writing within1 0 days. JOHN YANG: Some CEOs, like Merck’s Ken Frazier, said they were willing to do things like eliminating dismiss that help protect their market share, but, overall, companionships attacked their rules. KENNETH C. FRAZIER: No one company can unilaterallylower list prices without running into business and operating impediments. JOHN YANG: By the hearing’s end, Wyden andother lawmakers said they were far from filled. SEN. RON WYDEN: I have heard a lot of happy talkthis morning. JOHN YANG: Today’s hearing peculiarity more bipartisancriticism than in the past, but it is far from clear what war Congress will takeas treat prices continue to rise.For the “PBS NewsHour, ” I’m John Yang ..
