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Drugmakers Pledge to Cooperate With Oversight Committee’s Pricing Investigation

January 22, 2019

Drugmakers are pushing back against claims by newly-seated House Oversight Committee Chair Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) about their drug pricing practices, but say they will cooperate with the committee’s investigation.

Cummings sent letters to 12 drugmakers requesting data and documents relating to their pricing tactics, including communications relating to R&D investments, price increases and how the recipients plan to maintain their pricing power and market shares.

Between 2005 and 2017, Cummings noted, about 94 percent of commonly-used branded drugs saw their price increases more than double. In 2017, the average price increase was 8.4 percent, or quadruple the rate of inflation, and in the first seven months of 2018, more than 4,400 branded drugs increased in price while only 46 decreased.

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