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Tomorrow, three outstanding pharmaceutical firm CEOs will testify earlier than the Senate, together with Johnson & Johnson. The listening to held by the Senate Well being Committee is to debate the astronomically excessive costs Individuals are pressured to pay for important drugs for power sicknesses.
Undoubtedly, testimony will contact on the pending lawsuits filed by the identical corporations to halt federally mandated Medicare negotiations with the businesses to decrease mentioned drug costs. Because of the Inflation Discount Act, Medicare has been given the authority to barter the costs down for important drugs, a lot to the ire of huge Pharma.
The easiest way to grasp the problem of sky-high treatment prices for Individuals and the pending litigation over Medicare negotiations is to flashback to late final yr when Congressman Ro Khanna grilled Johnson & Johnson Assistant Basic Counsel Aviva Wein.
Making financial institution
Late final yr, Aviva Wein, the assistant basic counsel for Johnson & Johnson, testified earlier than Congress on the problem of decreasing drug costs for Individuals. Ms. Wein didn’t financial institution on Congressman Ro Khanna coming with some onerous numbers and what ought to’ve been a simple query for her to reply.
Congressman Khanna used the leukemia treatment Imbruvica to show some extent concerning the staggering price of important treatment for blood most cancers. Unsurprisingly, Ms. Wein didn’t know the small print of how a lot Imbruvica prices, however Congressman Khanna was in a position to educate her.
He laid out that the price of one pill of Imbruvica prices $484 which equates to roughly $14,000 per 30 days of treatment. For one yr of treatment, it prices a blood most cancers affected person $160,000.
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When requested, Ms. Wein couldn’t present the general income that has introduced her employer, however once more Congressman Khanna didn’t disappoint. He defined that Johnson & Johnson has made $22 billion off of Imbruvica over the past ten years.
General, for 2023, Congressman Khanna let Ms. Wein know that the corporate she represents made $65 billion. After laying out how properly Johnson & Johnson does off of Imbruvica, issues acquired fascinating.
A easy query
Johnson & Johnson, amongst different pharmaceutical corporations, is suing the federal authorities over the Inflation Discount Act’s requirement that Medicare attempt to negotiate down the worth of medicines similar to Imbruvica. The lawsuit from Johnson & Johnson claims that this negotiation constitutions an “unjust taking.”
The lawsuit is referencing the Fifth Modification’s ‘Takings Clause’ which states:
“Nor shall personal property be taken for public use, with out simply compensation.”
Primarily, the argument is the federal authorities is taking drugs like Imbruvica from the corporate that creates it to present to the general public with out offering applicable cost. Bear in mind, Johnson & Johnson at present makes $160,000 a yr per blood most cancers affected person who purchases their treatment.
Congressman Khanna asked Ms. Wein:
“Do you imagine when the Veterans Administration negotiates for drug costs with you that that may be a violation of the Takings Clause?”
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Simply as with each query Congressman Khanna requested, Ms. Wein couldn’t reply. To which Congressman Khanna rightly identified the absurdity of her incapability:
“You’re right here, you’re the assistant basic counsel for a corporation accusing the US authorities of taking your property as a result of we’re negotiating drug costs, and you may’t reply a easy query…”
Appears like an terrible lot like some other Congressional listening to on some other subject.
The purpose
Tomorrow, Merck, Johnson & Johnson, and Bristol Myers Squibb’s CEOs will testify on the Senate Well being Committee listening to on drug costs. Whereas the CEO of Bristol Myers Squibb had freely accepted his invitation to testify, it took the specter of subpoena for the CEOs of Merck and Johnson & Johnson to agree.
Had the Senate Well being Committee issued the subpoenas, it might’ve been the primary time in 40 years because the committee has had to make use of such a tactic. Of word, the next drugs are on the checklist for negotiation with Medicare:
- Merck’s diabetes drug Januvia
- Johnson & Johnson’s blood most cancers therapy drug Imbruvica
- Myers Squibb’s blood thinner Eliquis
The problem isn’t simply that these medication are costly and have a considerably greater damaging influence for these on Medicare particularly. The purpose is that it’s dearer to buy nearly each treatment in the USA than wherever else on the planet.
For example:
- Merck’s Januvia checklist value is $6,900 in the USA – $200 in France
- Johnson & Johnson’s psoriasis drug Stelara checklist value is $79,000 in the USA – $16,000 in the UK
- Myers Squibb’s Eliquis checklist value is $7,100 in the USA – $650 in France
Why is it so costly for Individuals affected by power sickness to buy the drugs they want than it’s for the French and the British? Why is it a difficulty for Medicare to barter for decrease costs than for the VA?
My cash is that none of these questions can be answered tomorrow, however they each deserve a solution. However one factor is for certain: it wasn’t way back that these identical corporations, particularly Johnson & Johnson, have been hailed as heroes for pushing by means of an experimental vaccine.
The political elite have quick reminiscences; let’s hope those that elected them of their seats remind them of the long-fought battle with massive Pharma.
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