U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington May 18, 2023 about eleven Senate Democrats who sent a letter to President Joe Biden asking him to respond to the 14th Amendment to be invoked to avoid catastrophic debt default.
Evelyn Hockstein Reuters
Senator Bernie Sanders vowed to oppose electing President Joe Biden to head the National Institutes of Health — and any other health-care nominee — until the administration comes up with a plan to cut prescription drug prices.
“I’m going to turn down all nominations until we have a very clear strategy from the government… on how to bring down the outrageously high cost of prescription drugs,” Sanders said in an interview with The Washington Post late Monday.
Sanders, chair of the Senate Health Committee, controls when his panel reviews candidates for the Department of Health and Human Services.
The Biden administration will not be able to secure its election as NIH director, Dr. Monica Bertagnolli, or any other current or prospective health authority candidate.
The government last month announced its intention to nominate Bertagnolli, a cancer surgeon who heads the National Cancer Institute.
The White House told the Post that Biden shared Sanders’ concerns about drug prices, prompting the president to enact the Inflation Reduction Act, “the most momentous law to combat the high cost of prescription drugs.”
A provision of the law penalizes drug companies for charging Medicare beneficiaries prices that rise faster than inflation.
Lawmakers, researchers and advocates have repeatedly warned that drug prices in the United States are higher than other countries, ultimately hurting Americans who need access to life-saving treatments.
Sanders, a frequent drug critic, along with the committee’s Democratic majority, released a report Monday analyzing the costs of prescription drugs developed with the help of NIH funding and research.
The report concluded that Americans consistently pay higher prices for NIH-sponsored drugs compared to people in other countries.
The White House said in a statement Monday that Biden shared Sanders’ concerns about drug prices – “which is why he enacted the Inflation Reduction Act, the most momentous piece of legislation to combat the high cost of prescription drugs.”
A provision of the law penalizes drug companies for charging Medicare beneficiaries prices that rise faster than inflation.
CNBC Health and Science
Read the latest health coverage from CNBC:
The median price for new treatments that NIH scientists have helped develop over the past two decades is $111,000, according to the report. With all but one treatment, U.S. prices were higher than other G7 countries, the report said.
For example, according to the report, a drug for severe mouth pain called Kepivance costs $19,000 in the United States. But the treatment, developed by biotech company Sobi, costs just $5,000 in Italy.
The report also argued that federal officials are missing opportunities to ensure drug companies set reasonable prices for new drugs, funded in part by taxpayers’ money.
“The federal government should also stop giving away monopolies on public inventions,” says the report. It cited examples of how health officials appear to have “handed over taxpayer technology for little in return.”
Comments are closed.