[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 98 (Tuesday, June 11, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4008-S4010]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                        Prescription Drug Costs

  Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, let me be as clear as I can be. That is, 
the American people--whether they are Democrats, Republicans, or 
Independents--are sick and tired of paying, by far, the highest prices 
in the world for prescription drugs. The American people are sick and 
tired of being ripped off by giant pharmaceutical companies who make 
huge profits every year while charging us outrageous prices that the 
American people cannot afford.
  A few months ago, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 
Committee--the HELP Committee--that I chair held a hearing on the 
extraordinarily high prices of prescription drugs in the United States, 
and this is what we learned.
  We learned that Merck, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in 
the world, made $14.5 billion in profits last year charging Americans 
struggling with diabetes $6,900 for Januvia, when the same exact 
product can be purchased in Canada for $900 and in France for $200.
  Here you go: $6,900 in the United States, $900 in Canada, $200 in 
France. This is not a generic. This is the exact same product.
  We found that this same company--which, by the way, could afford to

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spend $7 billion last year on dividends and a $52 million compensation 
package for its CEO--$52 million for its CEO--charges Americans 
struggling with cancer $191,000 for Keytruda, while the same exact drug 
can be purchased in Canada for $112,000, $91,000 in France, and $89,000 
in Germany.
  Keytruda: $191,000 in the United States, $112,000 in Canada, and 
$91,000 in France.
  And it is not just Merck. This is Merck, but it is not just Merck. 
Our committee also discovered that Bristol Myers Squibb, a company that 
made over $6 billion in profits last year, charges patients in America 
$7,100 for Eliquis, the popular blood thinner, when that same exact 
product can be purchased for just $900 in Canada and just $650 in 
France.
  Eliquis: $7,100 in the United States; $900 in Canada; and $650 in 
France--same exact product.
  That same company, Bristol Myers Squibb--which, by the way, could 
afford to spend some $14 billion on stock buybacks and dividends and 
hand out $41 million in compensation to its CEO last year--charges 
Americans with cancer $192,000 for Opdivo, while that same exact drug 
can be purchased for just $89,000 in Canada and $68,000 in France.
  Opdivo, cancer drug: $192,000 in America, $89,000 in Canada, $68,000 
in France--same product, same company.
  What else did our committee learn from its investigation? Well, we 
found out that Johnson & Johnson, which made over $18 billion in 
profits last year, charges cancer patients $204,000 for Imbruvica, 
which can be purchased for just $46,000 in the UK and $43,000 in 
France.
  And that same company, which recently spent over $17 billion on stock 
buybacks and dividends and gave its CEO a $27 million compensation 
package last year, charges Americans with arthritis $79,000 for Stelara 
when it can be purchased for just $30,000 in Germany and $16,000 in the 
UK. Stelara, Johnson & Johnson: $79,000 in the United States, $16,000 
in the UK, $30,000 in Germany.
  Let us be clear. It is not just Bristol Myers Squibb. It is not just 
Merck. It is not just Johnson & Johnson. Incredibly--and this is quite 
incredible and unbelievable and talks to our broken and dysfunctional 
healthcare system--while one out of four Americans cannot afford the 
medicine their doctors prescribe, 10 top pharmaceutical companies in 
our country made over $110 billion in profits last year and spent tens 
of billions on stock buybacks and dividends. In other words, you have 
the insane situation where people get sick. They go to the doctor. The 
doctor writes out a prescription. They cannot afford to fill that 
prescription. Well, if you are sick and you can't afford to fill the 
prescription, what happens to you? Likely, you even get sicker. You may 
end up in the hospital at an additional cost to the system, not to 
mention human suffering.
  As the chair of the Senate HELP Committee, one of the top priorities 
for me is to try to substantially reduce the price of prescription 
drugs in the United States. And one of the ways to do that, in my view, 
is to hold the executives of some of the largest pharmaceutical 
companies in our country accountable for their actions; let them know 
that we understand what is going on and that the American people will 
not accept what is going on.
  That brings us to another major pharmaceutical company, and that is 
Novo Nordisk, the manufacturer of the blockbuster drugs Ozempic and 
Wegovy. On April 24, the HELP Committee launched an investigation into 
the unbelievably high prices Novo Nordisk charges for Ozempic and 
Wegovy in the United States for millions of our people who are 
struggling with diabetes and obesity. We have an epidemic in this 
country of diabetes and obesity. People need these very, very important 
drugs.
  Today, our investigation has found that Novo Nordisk charges 
Americans with type 2 diabetes $969 a month for Ozempic, while the same 
exact drug can be purchased for just $59 in Germany, $122 in Denmark, 
and $155 in Canada. Here we got it. Ozempic, blockbuster drug, 
important drug dealing with diabetes and obesity: United States, $969, 
Canada $155, Denmark, $122, Germany, $59. The same exact drug made by 
the same company is almost 10 times higher--more than 10 times higher. 
My arithmetic is not that good. It looks to be almost 20 times higher 
between the United States and Germany.
  Novo Nordisk charges Americans with obesity--that was for diabetes--
$1,349 a month for Wegovy, while the same exact product can be 
purchased for just $92 in the UK, $186 in Denmark, and $265 in Canada. 
Further, if half of the adults in our country--this is not an 
unreasonable projection. If half of the adults in our country with 
obesity took Wegovy, which is apparently a very successful drug, and 
the other new weight loss drugs, it could cost--and this is quite 
incredible, and every Member of Congress should be listening to this--
it would cost us, as a nation, $411 billion every year for weight-loss 
drugs dealing with diabetes and obesity. That is $5 billion more than 
what Americans spent on all--A-L-L--all prescription drugs at the 
pharmacy counter in 2022.
  Let me repeat it. If we do not change, fundamentally change, this 
scenario, Americans could be spending more at these incredibly absurd 
prices on weight-loss drugs than on all prescription drugs at the 
pharmacy counter for cancer, for whatever--more for weight-loss drugs 
than all the other drugs in the country. Clearly, it doesn't take an 
economist to understand that this is unsustainable. It can't happen.
  The HELP Committee also found that if half of all Medicare and 
Medicaid beneficiaries who are obese--not talking about diabetes, 
talking about obesity--took Wegovy and other weight-loss drugs, 
Medicare and Medicaid could spend $166 billion every year, roughly what 
these two major healthcare programs spent on all retail prescription 
drugs in 2022. That would also be unsustainable.
  The scientists at Novo Nordisk and the other drug companies deserve a 
lot of credit and thanks for developing these important lifesaving 
drugs. But these drugs mean nothing for the millions of people who 
cannot afford them. And if we do not substantially lower the prices 
these companies are charging, they will have a disastrous impact on the 
Federal deficit and the future of Medicare and Medicaid.
  So all of those people worried about the Federal deficit, worried 
about the future of Medicare and Medicaid, listen up because just these 
drugs, Ozempic and Wegovy, can bankrupt those programs. We have, in my 
view, a moral responsibility to make sure that every American with 
diabetes and obesity who receives a prescription for Ozempic or Wegovy 
can afford to purchase those drugs. It would be a horrible thing for 
somebody who was in need of those drugs, who could be helped by those 
drugs, to not to be able to get them because they can't afford these 
outrageous prices.
  Further, as Members of the Congress, we have a fiscal responsibility 
to make sure that Ozempic and Wegovy do not bankrupt Medicare, 
Medicaid, and, in fact, our entire healthcare system, which already 
spends twice as much per capita on healthcare as the people of any 
other country.
  That is why the HELP Committee has, time and time again, invited the 
leadership of Novo Nordisk to voluntarily testify about the 
unconscionably high prices they are charging for these drugs in the 
United States. The reason why we invited the executives at Novo Nordisk 
to testify before Congress is not complicated. It is a very, very 
simple question that we want answered. And that question is, Why do 
they think it is acceptable for Novo Nordisk to charge Americans $969 
for Ozempic when that same exact drug can be purchased for just $59 in 
Germany and $155 in Canada? We want to ask them why they think it is 
acceptable to charge Americans $1,349 for Wegovy when that same drug 
can be purchased for just $92 in the United Kingdom.
  After all is said and done, what are we trying to accomplish? The 
answer is obvious, and the answer is simple. We want Novo Nordisk to 
stop ripping off the American people, and we want them to stop charging 
us prices that are far, far higher than they charge the people of other 
countries. That is what I want to see, and that is what the 
overwhelming majority of American people want to see.
  Unfortunately, despite the many, many discussions that I and my staff 
have had with Novo Nordisk over the past several months, I must confess

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that we have made virtually no progress in getting them to lower their 
prices. We have asked the leadership of the company to come before the 
committee to explain why their prices are so much higher in the United 
States than in other countries. Unfortunately, they have not agreed to 
do that.
  Therefore, the HELP Committee has no choice but to subpoena the 
leadership of Novo Nordisk to testify and explain their actions. I look 
forward to the presence of the leadership of Novo Nordisk at a HELP 
Committee hearing on July 10.
  Let me be very clear. The HELP Committee that I chair will continue 
to ask the tough questions that the pharmaceutical industry would 
prefer us to ignore: Why is it that the median price of new 
prescription drugs in America is now over $300,000, including for many 
new cancer drugs? Why has the pharmaceutical industry spent over the 
past 25 years some $8.5 billion on lobbying and over $700 million on 
campaign contributions?
  Right now, as we speak, there are some 1,800 well-paid lobbyists of 
the pharmaceutical industry all over Washington, former leaders of the 
Republican Party and the Democratic Party, doing everything they can to 
make sure we do not ask those questions and that we are not successful 
in getting them to lower their prices.
  Mr. President, let me conclude the way I began. This is an issue that 
is not a Democratic issue. It is not a Republican issue. It is not an 
Independent issue. The American people are sick and tired of being 
ripped off by the pharmaceutical industry, sick and tired of paying by 
far the highest prices in the world.
  And the time is now for the Congress to have the courage to stand up 
to the 1,800 paid lobbyists here in Washington, DC, all the campaign 
contributions that come in, and tell the industry enough is enough. 
Lower the prices you are charging the American people.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Massachusetts.