[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 57 (Wednesday, March 29, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H1535]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                       BIG PHARMA CORPORATE GREED

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Pennsylvania (Ms. Wild) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WILD. Madam Speaker, on March 1 of this year, drug manufacturer 
Eli Lilly announced its plan to institute a $35 cap on out-of-pocket 
insulin costs. Two weeks later, Novo Nordisk announced plans to cut its 
insulin prices by up to 75 percent. Just 2 days after that, Sanofi 
announced their decision to cut the U.S. price of its most prescribed 
insulin by 78 percent and cap costs at $35 for those with private 
insurance.
  Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi make up roughly 90 percent of the 
insulin market in the United States, a market that for decades has been 
characterized by skyrocketing costs and unbelievable price gouging.
  Some might say that these price-capping announcements are examples of 
corporate responsibility.
  Let me correct the record: I say it is about damn time. I say this 
action is a hollow, decades-too-late example of big pharmaceutical 
companies attempting to shirk regulation as they face the most 
realistic possibility ever of being held accountable for price gouging 
Americans. I say it is not enough because for a century, pharmaceutical 
companies have been exploiting and profiting off Americans who depend 
on insulin and other lifesaving medications to survive.
  In 1923, the inventors of insulin sold the patent for just $1. They 
felt it was unethical to profit from a discovery that would save so 
many lives. How ironic. Since then, insulin costs have skyrocketed, 
jumping 500 percent in just the past decade or so, with a vial costing 
as much as thousands of dollars per month.
  Americans represent 15 percent of the global insulin market, yet we 
generate almost 50 percent of the pharmaceutical industry's insulin 
revenue. That is not an accident. Big Pharma has for decades taken 
advantage of the nonexistent regulation on drug pricing in the United 
States to make billions in profit off insulin.
  It is corporate greed, pure and simple, fueled by hundreds of 
millions in dark-money lobbying to intimidate Congress from reining in 
the industry. In 2022 alone, pharma and health product companies spent 
a record $372 million lobbying against pricing regulations and Medicare 
negotiations. Big Pharma is well organized, well funded, and well 
connected. That is why last year's Inflation Reduction Act was so 
historic. It was the first successful attempt in decades to curtail 
this price gouging.
  The work to lower drug prices is why I ran for office in the first 
place. It has been one of my very top priorities since day one in 
Congress, so much so that I have been called a dog with a bone when it 
comes to the fight to get drug prices down.
  I cosponsored and voted to pass the Lower Drug Costs Now Act. I voted 
to pass the Affordable Insulin Now Act to cap the cost of insulin at 
$35 per month for everyone. I introduced the bipartisan Fair Drug 
Prices for Kids Act to lower costs for families by allowing States to 
purchase medication at the lowest price offered by drug manufacturers. 
I called on House and Senate leadership time and again to take swift 
legislative action to lower drug costs. I stood with my constituents 
affected by high insulin prices to call attention to the crisis they 
face. I called for Build Back Better to include a measure enabling 
Medicare to negotiate drug prices, and I helped pass into law the 
Inflation Reduction Act that finally, finally realizes so many of these 
priorities.
  The Inflation Reduction Act capped the price of insulin at $35 per 
month for Medicare beneficiaries. Now, Big Pharma sees the writing on 
the wall. Their decision to lower insulin costs for everyone does not 
come out of so-called corporate responsibility. This decision comes 
because corporations are afraid that Congress, now having momentum, 
will continue to take action to rein in their corporate greed. Eli 
Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi could have, at any point in the last 
century, capped the price of insulin and saved many lives. They are 
only doing it now as part of a transparent PR campaign to stave off 
further congressional action regulating drug prices. They can lower 
costs at will, but they can also raise costs at will. That means we 
must act because your ability to afford lifesaving medications should 
not be dependent on the whims of Big Pharma's pricing decisions.
  For the countless people across my district and across the country 
who depend on lifesaving insulin, I am telling you that I will never 
back down.

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