[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 130 (Wednesday, July 31, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5220-S5221]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Opioid Epidemic
Ms. HASSAN. Mr. President, I rise today to discuss the need to hold
the pharmaceutical industry accountable for putting profits before the
health and well-being of our people and our communities.
I know that my colleague, Senator Brown from Ohio, came to the floor
earlier this week to call out bad actors in the pharmaceutical industry
who have fueled our country's substance misuse crisis, and I am
grateful for Senator Brown's leadership in calling attention to this
issue, and I join him in the effort.
We are constantly learning more and more about the unconscionable
ways that pharmaceutical companies fueled the substance misuse crisis--
a crisis that is killing more than 100 people a day in the United
States.
Recent data released by the Drug Enforcement Administration showed
that between 2006 and 2012, just 6 years, companies distributed 76
billion pills of oxycodone and hydrocodone throughout the country,
including 290 million pills that were sent to New Hampshire, a State
with only 1.3 million people. That works out to about 30 pills per
person per year in the Granite State.
As they distributed those unfathomable amounts of opioids,
pharmaceutical companies pushed these drugs with deceptive marketing
tactics, despite the known risks of addiction, to maximize their
profits. One of these tactics even included pushing the unproven
concept of pseudoaddiction. This false claim asserted that patients
showing signs of addiction weren't actually addicted but instead needed
even higher doses of opioids. The solution that these scam artists
pushed to address addiction was to encourage the prescribing of even
more opioids. So instead of providing actual addiction treatment to
those suffering from substance use disorder, some patients just
received more drugs.
That kind of strategy enabled the pharmaceutical industry to dole out
those billions of doses of opioids and profit enormously from it,
leaving in
[[Page S5221]]
their wake an opioid crisis that is devastating communities.
Outrageously, as they have aggressively pushed doctors to prescribe
these opioids, a tax loophole has enabled Big Pharma to write off the
cost of television ads that blanketed the airwaves, encouraging more
and more people to seek opioids from their doctors for pain relief,
oblivious to the harm that these drugs could do. I have joined with
Senator Brown, as well as Senator Shaheen, on legislation to close that
loophole and end taxpayer subsidies for drug ads, and I am going to
continue to push for transparency from these companies.
In addition to the devastating impact that Big Pharma has had in
fueling the substance misuse crisis, the industry has also hurt
patients by massively increasing the cost of prescription drugs.
One of the top issues I hear about from people in New Hampshire is
that affording lifesaving medications is becoming more and more out of
reach, and high drug costs are too often forcing seniors and families
to make agonizing decisions.
No one should have to decide between buying their prescriptions and
heating their home or putting food on the table, but these are the
types of choices Americans are devastatingly having to make, all the
while big pharmaceutical companies are reporting profits that are
higher than ever. We need to change this system, bring down costs, and
hold Big Pharma accountable.
Last week, the Finance Committee moved forward with bipartisan
legislation to begin to take on Big Pharma and lower prescription drug
prices. This bill would cap out-of-pocket costs for seniors on Medicaid
Part D and crack down on pharmaceutical companies that raise drug
prices higher than inflation.
It is a really big deal that a bill to take on the pharmaceutical
industry in a meaningful way advanced out of committee on a strong
bipartisan vote. Pharma did everything they could to try to kill and
weaken this bill in committee, and they will keep trying. I am really
encouraged that we have gotten this far. That is no small
accomplishment. We will continue working with colleagues from both
sides of the aisle to get it across the finish line.
At the heart of the issue with Big Pharma is the blind pursuit of
profits at the expense of people's health and wellbeing.
Representatives from the pharmaceutical industry have told us often how
important innovation is and how much innovation costs because they say
they want to save lives and innovation is critically important.
In my own family, like so many across our country, medical innovation
has been critical not only for saving life but to improve the quality
of life. Our son Ben regularly has a compression vest that helps clear
his lungs without the incredibly labor intensive respiratory therapy
that we used to have to do. He is able to get nutrition through a
feeding tube that runs smoothly, steadily through the night so that he
can have the kind of nutrition he needs.
Innovation in pharmaceuticals have also helped Ben improve his
quality of life, and the combination of pharmaceutical innovation and
medical device innovation means that a baclofen pump inserted in Ben's
abdominal cavity helps his muscles to relax.
But if innovation is about saving lives, then, how did we get to a
point of crisis that started from the drugs that they produced? How did
we get to a point where many patients can't even afford the lifesaving
prescription that pharma promotes?
It seems that, at least for some pharmaceutical companies, they only
want to save lives when it makes them money or when it gives them an
excuse not to restrict their profits.
From the substance misuse crisis to the skyrocketing costs of
prescription drugs, this body has failed to hold Big Pharma accountable
for far too long. That must change, and I am committed to working with
anyone who is serious about finally acting to put patients first.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Romney). The Senator from Alaska.