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 Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Finance
Committee, and Democratic Senator Ron Wyden, ranking member of the
committee, on Monday invited executives from seven pharmaceutical
companies, including Merck, to testify. The others are AbbVie Inc,
AstraZeneca Plc , Bristol-Myers Squibb Co, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer
Inc and Sanofi SA.
A spokesman from Senator Grassley's office said on Monday that two
of the CEOs have agreed to testify so far, but did not specify from
which companies.
A Sanofi spokeswoman said the French drugmaker was reviewing Chief
Executive Olivier Brandicourt's scheduling to determine if he can
attend the hearing. Britain-based AstraZeneca said it was reviewing
the request and will respond to the committee.
Pfizer, Bristol-Myers, and J&J did not immediately have a statement
on the invitation to testify, while AbbVie did not respond to a
request for comment.
The United States, which leaves drug pricing to market competition,
has higher prices than in other countries, where governments
directly or indirectly control costs. That makes it by far the
world's most lucrative market for manufacturers.
Congress has been targeting the pharmaceutical industry over the
rising cost of prescription drugs for U.S. consumers, particularly
since Democrats took over the House of Representatives in January.
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Last week, the House Oversight Committee and the Senate Finance
Committee brought in patient advocates and health policy experts to
discuss the burden of high drug costs on consumers.
Senators and congressmen have also written to insulin manufacturers
requesting information on why its cost has skyrocketed in recent
years and how much the companies profit from the life-sustaining
diabetes treatment.
Drug pricing is also a top priority of the administration of
President Donald Trump, who had made it a central issue of the 2016
presidential campaign.
Drugmakers have slowed and limited U.S. price increases as scrutiny
on their practices has intensified over the past few years.
They nonetheless increased prices on hundreds of drugs in January,
including a 6.2 percent increase on the world's top-selling drug -
AbbVie's rheumatoid arthritis treatment Humira - and hikes on
insulin prices by Sanofi and Novo Nordisk.
(Reporting by Michael Erman in New York and Yasmeen Abutaleb in
Washington, Additional reporting by Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago;
editing by Bill Berkrot)
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