House Drug Pricing Hearing Postponed to Feb. 4

Last week’s House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on drug pricing has been pushed back to Feb. 4 after a weekend blizzard buried the Washington, D.C., region in snow.

One of the scheduled witnesses in the case — ex-Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli — has been fighting a subpoena to testify at the hearing, asking a judge last week to nullify the subpoena because he is forbidden to leave New York state after being released on bail for unrelated charges of securities fraud and wire fraud. One of the committee members, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), has threatened Shkreli with a contempt citation if he fails to show up for the hearing.

In a Jan. 22 letter, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York told the presiding judge that he has no objection to Shkreli leaving the state to attend the hearing. Shkreli repeatedly has stated that he will invoke his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination if he is forced to testify.

Other witnesses scheduled to attend the hearing include CDER Director Janet Woodcock, Valeant Pharmaceuticals Interim CEO Howard Schiller, Turing’s Chief Commercial Officer Nancy Retzlaff and Mark Merritt of the Pharmaceutical Care Management Organization.