Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) speaks during an oversight hearing in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill February 8, 2019 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Jul 03, 2020
In the wake of Gilead's announcement that it will charge U.S. hospitals $3,120 per privately insured patient for a treatment course of Covid-19 drug remdesivir, the Congressional Progressive Caucus is calling on Congress to pass legislation combating the pharmaceutical industry's effort to "profiteer off a pandemic" by imposing exorbitant prices.
"This doesn't come as a surprise--after all, this is the same company that once priced a lifesaving Hepatitis C drug, Sovaldi, at $1000 per pill, totaling $84,000 for a single course of treatment," Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) said of Gilead in a statement Wednesday. "Sadly, as we've seen all too often from Big Pharma, saving lives is incidental to their business model--the profit motive always comes first."
"Big Pharma's greed is a danger to public health--Congress cannot allow it to go unaddressed any longer."
--Reps. Pramila Jayapal and Mark Pocan
Jayapal and Pocan urged the House Democratic leadership to hold a floor vote on Rep. Jan Schakowsky's (D-Ill.) Make Medications Affordable by Preventing Pandemic Price-Gouging Act, which would require the federal government to "mandate reasonable, affordable pricing of any new, taxpayer-funded Covid-19 drug used to diagnose, mitigate, prevent, or treat Covid-19."
"In a time of unprecedented national suffering, with more than 125,000 of our neighbors, coworkers, and loved ones dead from the coronavirus, Gilead has chosen to exploit the desperation of millions and profiteer off a pandemic," said Jayapal and Pocan. "But just because Gilead will exploit this pandemic, that doesn't mean that Congress should let them."
"Researchers have estimated that Gilead could cover the price of manufacturing remdesivir at scale with reasonable profit at a market price of $1 per day. But instead, Gilead plans to charge $520 a vial--an outrageous and unjustifiable mark-up," the lawmakers added. "Big Pharma's greed is a danger to public health--Congress cannot allow it to go unaddressed any longer."
\u201cAnother appalling example of the greed, profiteering, and corruption at the heart of our health care system. US taxpayers spent $70 million to help develop remdesivir. Now Gilead plans to pocket billions from the pandemic. \n\nCongress must #PreventPandemicProfiteers.\u201d— Progressive Caucus (@Progressive Caucus) 1593457808
The Progressive Caucus' demand comes as the Trump administration, as Common Dreams reported Thursday, actively opens the door to pharma price-gouging by refusing to exercise federal authority to hold down prices for coronavirus treatments developed with taxpayer money.
In several government contracts with pharmaceutical giants obtained by consumer advocacy group Knowledge Ecology International (KEI), the Trump administration left out a standard condition requiring that products developed with the help of federal funds be made available to the public "on reasonable terms."
"This means that the government has limited its ability to intervene if the pharmaceutical companies (which are party to the agreements and are receiving hundreds of millions of dollars to conduct the research) charge unreasonable prices for the resulting Covid-19 vaccines or treatments," said KEI.
Join Us: News for people demanding a better world
Common Dreams is powered by optimists who believe in the power of informed and engaged citizens to ignite and enact change to make the world a better place. We're hundreds of thousands strong, but every single supporter makes the difference. Your contribution supports this bold media model—free, independent, and dedicated to reporting the facts every day. Stand with us in the fight for economic equality, social justice, human rights, and a more sustainable future. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover the issues the corporate media never will. Join with us today! |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
In the wake of Gilead's announcement that it will charge U.S. hospitals $3,120 per privately insured patient for a treatment course of Covid-19 drug remdesivir, the Congressional Progressive Caucus is calling on Congress to pass legislation combating the pharmaceutical industry's effort to "profiteer off a pandemic" by imposing exorbitant prices.
"This doesn't come as a surprise--after all, this is the same company that once priced a lifesaving Hepatitis C drug, Sovaldi, at $1000 per pill, totaling $84,000 for a single course of treatment," Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) said of Gilead in a statement Wednesday. "Sadly, as we've seen all too often from Big Pharma, saving lives is incidental to their business model--the profit motive always comes first."
"Big Pharma's greed is a danger to public health--Congress cannot allow it to go unaddressed any longer."
--Reps. Pramila Jayapal and Mark Pocan
Jayapal and Pocan urged the House Democratic leadership to hold a floor vote on Rep. Jan Schakowsky's (D-Ill.) Make Medications Affordable by Preventing Pandemic Price-Gouging Act, which would require the federal government to "mandate reasonable, affordable pricing of any new, taxpayer-funded Covid-19 drug used to diagnose, mitigate, prevent, or treat Covid-19."
"In a time of unprecedented national suffering, with more than 125,000 of our neighbors, coworkers, and loved ones dead from the coronavirus, Gilead has chosen to exploit the desperation of millions and profiteer off a pandemic," said Jayapal and Pocan. "But just because Gilead will exploit this pandemic, that doesn't mean that Congress should let them."
"Researchers have estimated that Gilead could cover the price of manufacturing remdesivir at scale with reasonable profit at a market price of $1 per day. But instead, Gilead plans to charge $520 a vial--an outrageous and unjustifiable mark-up," the lawmakers added. "Big Pharma's greed is a danger to public health--Congress cannot allow it to go unaddressed any longer."
\u201cAnother appalling example of the greed, profiteering, and corruption at the heart of our health care system. US taxpayers spent $70 million to help develop remdesivir. Now Gilead plans to pocket billions from the pandemic. \n\nCongress must #PreventPandemicProfiteers.\u201d— Progressive Caucus (@Progressive Caucus) 1593457808
The Progressive Caucus' demand comes as the Trump administration, as Common Dreams reported Thursday, actively opens the door to pharma price-gouging by refusing to exercise federal authority to hold down prices for coronavirus treatments developed with taxpayer money.
In several government contracts with pharmaceutical giants obtained by consumer advocacy group Knowledge Ecology International (KEI), the Trump administration left out a standard condition requiring that products developed with the help of federal funds be made available to the public "on reasonable terms."
"This means that the government has limited its ability to intervene if the pharmaceutical companies (which are party to the agreements and are receiving hundreds of millions of dollars to conduct the research) charge unreasonable prices for the resulting Covid-19 vaccines or treatments," said KEI.
In the wake of Gilead's announcement that it will charge U.S. hospitals $3,120 per privately insured patient for a treatment course of Covid-19 drug remdesivir, the Congressional Progressive Caucus is calling on Congress to pass legislation combating the pharmaceutical industry's effort to "profiteer off a pandemic" by imposing exorbitant prices.
"This doesn't come as a surprise--after all, this is the same company that once priced a lifesaving Hepatitis C drug, Sovaldi, at $1000 per pill, totaling $84,000 for a single course of treatment," Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) said of Gilead in a statement Wednesday. "Sadly, as we've seen all too often from Big Pharma, saving lives is incidental to their business model--the profit motive always comes first."
"Big Pharma's greed is a danger to public health--Congress cannot allow it to go unaddressed any longer."
--Reps. Pramila Jayapal and Mark Pocan
Jayapal and Pocan urged the House Democratic leadership to hold a floor vote on Rep. Jan Schakowsky's (D-Ill.) Make Medications Affordable by Preventing Pandemic Price-Gouging Act, which would require the federal government to "mandate reasonable, affordable pricing of any new, taxpayer-funded Covid-19 drug used to diagnose, mitigate, prevent, or treat Covid-19."
"In a time of unprecedented national suffering, with more than 125,000 of our neighbors, coworkers, and loved ones dead from the coronavirus, Gilead has chosen to exploit the desperation of millions and profiteer off a pandemic," said Jayapal and Pocan. "But just because Gilead will exploit this pandemic, that doesn't mean that Congress should let them."
"Researchers have estimated that Gilead could cover the price of manufacturing remdesivir at scale with reasonable profit at a market price of $1 per day. But instead, Gilead plans to charge $520 a vial--an outrageous and unjustifiable mark-up," the lawmakers added. "Big Pharma's greed is a danger to public health--Congress cannot allow it to go unaddressed any longer."
\u201cAnother appalling example of the greed, profiteering, and corruption at the heart of our health care system. US taxpayers spent $70 million to help develop remdesivir. Now Gilead plans to pocket billions from the pandemic. \n\nCongress must #PreventPandemicProfiteers.\u201d— Progressive Caucus (@Progressive Caucus) 1593457808
The Progressive Caucus' demand comes as the Trump administration, as Common Dreams reported Thursday, actively opens the door to pharma price-gouging by refusing to exercise federal authority to hold down prices for coronavirus treatments developed with taxpayer money.
In several government contracts with pharmaceutical giants obtained by consumer advocacy group Knowledge Ecology International (KEI), the Trump administration left out a standard condition requiring that products developed with the help of federal funds be made available to the public "on reasonable terms."
"This means that the government has limited its ability to intervene if the pharmaceutical companies (which are party to the agreements and are receiving hundreds of millions of dollars to conduct the research) charge unreasonable prices for the resulting Covid-19 vaccines or treatments," said KEI.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.