Bernie Sanders blasts big pharma for ‘ripping off’ patients
Senator criticises patent thickets and ‘monopolies’ ahead of senate hearing convened to interrogate CEOs | Sales of MSD’s blockbuster cancer treatment Keytruda rival McDonald’s annual revenue, says report.
As chief executives from three big pharma companies prepare to testify before a senate hearing, Senator Bernie Sanders has released a report accusing the companies of “ripping off the American people”.
CEOs Chris Boerner of Bristol Myers Squibb, Joaquin Duato of Johnson & Johnson and Robert Davis of Merck & Co ( MSD outside the US) are set to face the senate today, February 8.
During the hearing, former presidential candidate Sanders is expected to probe the executives on their business and pricing models.
The Sanders-led Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), published its report, Big Pharma’s Business Model: Corporate Greed, on February 6—just two days before the hearings.
Answers needed
The committee has run a year-long campaign demanding answers on pharma companies’ pricing models, summoning CEOs from Moderna, Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi to other hearings.
The recently published report is highly critical of a system that allegedly allows the companies to charge more for drugs in the US than in any other country and begins by stating:
“At a time when one out of four Americans cannot afford the medicine their doctors prescribe, ten large pharmaceutical companies made over $112 billion in profits in 2022 while paying their chief executives exorbitant compensation packages and spending billions of dollars on stock buybacks and dividends to make their wealthy stockholders even richer.”
It goes on to argue that for some of their most popular drugs, J&J, MSD, and Bristol Myers Squibb made more money in the US than the rest of the world combined.
According to the report, J&J made twice as much selling the arthritis treatment Stelara in the US ($30.4 billion) since 2016, as it did in the rest of the world ($14.9 billion).
‘Cancer drug sales exceed McDonald’s’
It further notes that in 2015, Merck made $43.4 billion selling the cancer drug Keytruda in the US—compared to $30 billion in the rest of the world.
Additionally, it claims that Bristol Myers Squibb made $34.6 billion selling the blood thinner Eliquis in the US compared to $22.5 billion in the rest of the world—meaning that the US
accounts for nearly two-thirds of all global Eliquis sales since its launch.
Further, the report insists that if MSD’s blockbuster cancer treatment Keytruda was its own company, its sales in 2022 “would rival McDonald’s annual revenue and exceed the revenue of hotel chain Marriott”.
Problematic model
“The current industry business model is based on ripping off the American people,” the report insists.
Big pharma companies, it continues, begin by setting exorbitant prices for new drugs. Then, as patients come to rely on these drugs, these companies raise prices, forcing patients to pay more or abandon ongoing treatment.
It goes on to point out that Merck began selling a vial of Keytruda in 2015 at an annual cost of $147,000 in the US and $132,000 in Germany.
While Keytruda now costs just $89,000 in Germany, it costs more than twice as much in the US at $191,000, according to the report.
Sanders also accused the companies of creating “patent thickets to extend their monopolies and delaying low-cost generic competition”.
