Seven Drugmakers Face Senate Grilling on Pricing

The Senate Finance Committee quizzed senior executives from seven leading drugmakers last week, calling on them to justify the sky-high prices of their prescription drugs.

The witnesses from AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Pfizer and Sanofi did their best to deflect some of the blame to health insurance companies, pharmacy benefit managers and rebates.

But the committee’s chairman, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), had other ideas. “We cannot allow anyone to hide behind the current complexities that shield the true cost of drugs, and we shouldn’t turn a blind eye to industry’s practices that thwart laws and regulations designed to promote competition and generic drug entries into the marketplace,” he said.