The pharmaceutical industry has long claimed that the government trying to negotiate better prices for Medicare, health are for the elderly, takes away from new drug research and development.

But a new report by the watchdog group Public Citizen and Protect our Care reveals that the manufacturers of the drugs selected for Medicare price negotiation spent $10 billion more on stock buybacks, dividends to shareholders, and executive compensation than they spent on research and development in 2022.

In response to this report, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) announced it will vote on subpoenaing the CEOs of Merck and Johnson & Johnson to testify before a committee hearing about “outrageously high drug prices”.

Merck and Johnson & Johnson are among the 10 manufacturers of drugs chosen for Medicare price negotiations under the provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act. 

In response to the news of HELP’s pending vote, Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, released the following statement:

“Time’s up for the prescription drug price gougers.

“For too long, Big Pharma executives have behaved as if they are immune from accountability. They take publicly funded research; skyrocket prices to the moon, forcing patients to ration or skip medications they need; and then laugh as the very government that paid for the original research accepts without negotiation their outrageous prices, paying multiples of what other countries pay. 

“Merck charges 30 times more for a diabetes drug in the United States than it does in France. Johnson & Johnson charges almost five times more for a blood cancer drug in the United States than it does in Germany. 

“Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson is paying out more in stock buybacks, dividends and executive compensation than they are spending on research and development, even though R&D is the only claimed rationale for high prices.

“The pharma profiteers know exactly what they are doing. They know how they are forcing rationing. They know they are ripping off the government and taxpayers. And they know they are getting rich.

“What’s different now is that they can no longer escape public accountability. The Merck and Johnson & Johnson CEOs thought they could simply ignore the Senate health committee demand that they testify and justify their practices. Think again.

“The hearings at which they will be forced to testify are another key marker in the process of rationalizing prescription drug pricing policy in the United States. The price negotiation provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act were a start. The Biden administration’s announcement of a framework to use its authority to override patent monopolies is another. It’s a new day, Big Pharma. Get used to it.”

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