Azar Raises Drug Pricing Reform at Senate Budget Hearing

HHS Secretary Alex Azar defended the administration’s proposed fiscal 2021 budget before the Senate Finance Committee and noted that the budget “supports quick congressional action” to lower the cost of prescription drugs.

The proposed budget — which would cut HHS’s budget by 10 percent to $94.5 billion but give the FDA a 4.5 percent increase to $6.2 billion — calls on Congress to pass drug pricing reform and projects that HHS will save $135 billion over 10 years as a result.

Azar said that the administration supports S. 2543, introduced by the committee’s chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and the ranking member Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). The bill would impose fines on companies that hike Medicare drug prices above the inflation rate.