Sanders Says 'Much More Has to Be Done' to Cut Prescription Drug Prices

Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday called for additional action to curb prescription drug costs in the United States after the Biden administration unveiled its list of the first 10 medications that will be subject to direct price negotiations with Medicare.

Sanders (I-Vt.), the chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, welcomed the administration's move as "an important step forward in taking on the greed of the pharmaceutical industry and their 1,800 paid lobbyists in Washington, D.C."

But "much more has to be done to protect the American people," the senator added, noting that the median annual price of medications approved by the Food and Drug Administration last year was over $222,000.

"Bottom line: We should not be paying any more for prescription drugs than other countries around the world," said Sanders. "I look forward to working with the president and my colleagues to make that happen."

Sanders has been demanding additional legislative and executive action to curb prescription drug prices since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) last year. That bill's prescription drug provisions, including those related to Medicare price negotiations, did not go nearly far enough, Sanders argued at the time.

"While the pharmaceutical industry makes huge profits every year, the American people pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs."

In June, Sanders pledged to stonewall President Joe Biden's health agency nominees until the administration puts forth a "comprehensive" plan to slash U.S. drug costs, which force millions to skip or ration medications—including lifesaving drugs such as insulin.

Sanders has repeatedly urged the president to use his executive authority to cut the prices of medications developed with public funding.

The senator has also proposed legislation that would require Medicare to pay no more for prescription drugs than the Department of Veterans Affairs, which paid about half as much as Medicare Part D for certain drugs in 2017. The change would save Medicare an estimated $835 billion over a 10-year period.

The Biden administration expects the IRA's drug price negotiation provisions to save Medicare $160 billion over the next decade.

"While the pharmaceutical industry makes huge profits every year, the American people pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs," Sanders said Tuesday. "And that situation is getting worse."

According to a recent analysis by Accountable.US, the nation's five largest pharmaceutical companies—Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Merck, and AbbVie—reported combined earnings of $81.9 billion last year.

Merck and Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen are among the pharmaceutical companies suing the Biden administration in an attempt to block direct price negotiations with Medicare.

"Why is pharma suing to stop President Biden from lowering prescription drug prices? Follow the money," Sanders wrote in a social media post. "Januvia, Merck's diabetes drug, costs $547 in the U.S. but just $16 in France. Eliquis, Bristol-Myers Squibb's blood clot drug, costs $561 in the U.S. but just $63 in Germany."

Before the IRA's passage—which the pharmaceutical industry and Republican lawmakers worked aggressively to prevent—Medicare was prohibited from negotiating prices directly with drug companies.

"Big drug companies raked in billions in profits while standing in the way of lower prescription drug costs for millions of seniors," Tony Carrk, executive director of Accountable.US, said in a statement Tuesday. "The time of Big Pharma grossly overcharging American seniors on lifesaving medicines is coming to an end."

"This historic achievement is still under threat, however, because the MAGA House majority is hellbent on repealing the Inflation Reduction Act," Carrk added. "They would rather pad the profits of their major industry donors than help seniors who are literally choosing between food and medicines."