So-called
pharmaceutical cost transparency bills have been introduced in at least
six state legislatures in the last year, aiming to make drug companies
justify their prices, which are often attributed to high research and
development costs.
“If
a prescription drug demands an outrageous price tag, the public,
insurers and federal, state and local governments should have access to
the information that supposedly justifies the cost,” says the preamble
of a bill introduced in the New York State Senate in May. Pressure is mounting from elsewhere as well. The top Republican and
Democrat on the United States Senate Finance Committee last year
demanded detailed cost data from Gilead Sciences, whose hepatitis C
drugs, which cost $1,000 a pill or more, have strained the budgets of
state and federal health programs. The U.A.W. Retiree Medical Benefits
Trust tried to make Gilead, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Celgene and other
companies report to their shareholders more about how they set prices
and the risks to their businesses from resistance to high drug prices. Even former President Bill Clinton, in a speech to pharmaceutical
executives in Philadelphia last month, said it would be in the
industry’s best interest to say more about its costs and pricing.The pharmaceutical industry has already had the veil lifted on various
practices. Drug companies now have to report the payments, including
meals and entertainment, that they make to doctors for research,
consulting and giving promotional speeches.
Shareholders of Gilead, Vertex and Celgene voted down the resolutions
proposed by the U.A.W. trust, though the trust says it reached
settlements with Eli Lilly and with two other drug companies it would
not identify.
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