Unsustainable Drug Prices: Findings from the Committee’s Drug Pricing Investigation and the Need for Structural Reforms

On Friday, December 10, 2021, at 10:00 a.m., Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, the Chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, will hold a hearing to examine the findings from the Committee’s nearly three-year investigation into pharmaceutical pricing and business practices.

On January 14, 2019, the late Chairman Elijah E. Cummings launched the Committee’s historic investigation into the pricing practices of drug companies that sell some of the costliest medications for patients, Medicare, and taxpayers.  Since then, the Committee has released eight staff reports with findings from the Committee’s investigation, including six reports detailing the pricing and business practices of the companies AbbVie Inc., Amgen Inc., Celgene Corporation, Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, and Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd.   The Committee has also held five hearings with drug company executives, health policy experts, patients, and other stakeholders.

The December 10 hearing will examine findings from the investigation as well as the need for structural reforms to lower prescription drug prices, including President Biden’s Build Back Better Act, which would finally allow Medicare to negotiate for some of the most expensive drugs, prevent drug prices from rising faster than inflation, and place a cap on out-of-pocket costs for patients, including co-pay caps on insulin.