Senate Finance Committee’s Bipartisan Drug Pricing Bill Advances

Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)’s drug pricing package is headed to the Senate floor, following the Senate Finance Committee’s markup and 19-9 approval yesterday.

Multiple amendments were rejected during the hearing, including one that would have done away with the legislation’s inflationary cap for Medicare Part D. The amendment’s author, Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), protested the cap as a “sledgehammer” of universal price control.

PhRMA, as expected, expressed opposition towards the sweeping bipartisan bill, calling it “the wrong approach” for tackling the nation’s high drug costs.