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McCaskill Presses HHS on Efforts to Curb Naloxone’s Rising Cost

September 7, 2018

In a new attempt to prod action by HHS to lower the price of the opioid-reversing drug naloxone, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) asked HHS Secretary Alex Azar what the department has done since she grilled another HHS official on the issue earlier this year.

In a Sept. 4 letter, the lawmaker asked what explanation manufacturers gave HHS for raising naloxone prices — and what the department has done to hold them accountable. She also asked what moves the department has made to negotiate lower prices for governmental naloxone units.

The letter follows an April Senate Finance Committee hearing during which Brett Giroir, HHS assistant secretary for health — under intense questioning by McCaskill — testified the department had not pressed drugmakers on why they hiked the price of naloxone.

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