Transcripts For CSPAN2 House Oversight Hearing On Prescripti

Skyrocketing drug prices on American Families. I recognize myself for five minutes to give an Opening Statement. Today we are closing this work. The way we started our work with this congress. A hearing on Prescription Drug prices. This is a bipartisan issue. That focuses on the many years. The first witness at our hearing was a woman named antoinette. A mother whose daughter died at 22 years of age after rationing insulin because she could not afford it. It was the subject of our hearing on hiv prevention drugs in may. Today, five patients and a Family Member are here to share their stories. I urge all members who go back to your districts and to talk to your constituents about their experiences struggling to pay for lifesaving drugs. I fear you will discover that we are facing a drug crisis in america. We have seen time and time again Drug Companies, skyrocketing prices, forcing families to make gutwrenching choices every day. Many families and having to choose between caring for themselves and their loved ones or paying for basic necessities, these skyrocketing prices are forcing families to take on debt, sacrifice their homes or sacrifice their healthcare altogether. Imagine having to pick between having a roof over your head or protecting your childs life. Between eating that day or taking a pill. Do you need to simply stay alive four americans around the country, these situations are in every day reality. Think about it. Americans are dying every year while pharmaceutical companies enjoy more and more profits. Our Witnesses Today represent the one in four americans that struggle to afford the drugs that keep them healthy. In many cases, keep them alive. Unfortunately, Drug Companies continue to raise prices. Reagan record profits. Reward their executives and shareholders all while stifling competition and preventing access to lifesaving drugs. Drug Companies Make up only a quarter of the healthcare industry, but they collect more than half of its profits. Some drugs are developed with federal funding. Yet, the end of street responsibility to the taxpayer and wreaks massive profit from our investment. Drug Companies Use a variety to increase their profitability. They use loopholes and a patent system to pay for a delay agreement with competitors to extend monopolies so they can keep increasing their prices. Even when there is supposed to be competition, socalled competitors increase their prices. Stuffing their pockets while the American Families are left paying the bill. To be sure, we all want Drug Companies to be successful. We want them to innovate. All of us depend on the pharmaceutical industry to develop cutting edge therapies and breakthrough drugs. An expense of the american taxpayers. That is why the committee has been investigating the pharmaceutical industries price increases. This investigation which began in january, focused on 17 drugs for the Medicare Part d program. Our investigation has made significant progress, but we tend to plan to do more. The committee will take all the steps necessary with our investigation. Including with our quest to Drug Companies. Why they are increasing their prices dramatically and how they are using the proceeds and what steps can be taken to reduce the prices. Our investigation will allow the American Public to let the veil lift the veil on practices. We will help inform to bring drug prices down. This is a problem that everyone, even in this polarized time can come together to address. I am hopeful there will be another step in that direction. Now, i yield to the distinguished Ranking Member of our committee. The cost of Prescription Drugs is way too high. The chairman nozick, our constituents know it and certainly our panelists know it. These high drug races represent a failure. They feel that markets do not work and they are exploiting companies to line the market. They have the situation completely backwards. It stems from Government Intervention in the pharmaceutical healthcare market. How did we get here . Leading to abuse of the patent system. These are the loopholes. These are the generic competition. They are tough. They require us to roll up our sleeves. Together to figure out how to make the system work together. We made some progress administratively and legislatively. October 2018 approving 110 generic drugs. Twentythree for brands that lacked competitions. 26 billion in savings. May 2017, there was an average of 73 generic applications approved per month up from about 50,000 approvals from january through april. In may of last year, President Trump signed into law the right to try bill. Access to that. They years for the drugs to go through the entire bureaucratic process. New treatment opportunities for patients who exhausted all other existing options. A few that have already passed the Judiciary Committee unanimously. A bill that i cosponsor. It would ensure that generics did timely access to lifesaving drugs that they can be available to more people more quickly. I am hopeful that the bill will be put on by short order. Putting forward a drug pricing drill when we return from the august recess. I hope the approaches different than what we saw on the pass. Seeking to deliver Real Solutions to our real concerns. Setting back the system drastically the last time they were in charge. No republican collaboration. Putting controversial partisan bills in the drug pricing package. The United States is light years ahead when it comes to groundbreaking medicine. It is no wonder our pharmaceutical companies spend 1 billion annually annually on research and development. Companies are entitled to make money on the drugs they invest in and develop. That process cannot be restored by Government Interventions that result in inflated prices. We must work to find americas cuttingedge innovation. These innovations make it to as many patients as possible. I want to thank David Mitchell for joining the panel. Its good to see you again. The commitment is inspiring. Her son jordan has muscular dystrophy. Jordan is not just walking, but running and living a complete life. He would be here today, but he has that summercamp which is probably where kids need to be in the summertime. I look forward to a productive discussion this morning. Thank you very much. We will turn to our witnesses who are here to share their stories. First we have mr. David mitchell. Founder from my state. Welcome. A patient from houston texas. The mother of a patient from indianapolis indiana. Indianapolis indiana. A patient from granger indiana. Before i swear you and, let me just explain to you that we dont have as many members here today because we were expecting to be in session today and we are not. Members had to leave to go home. Understand we appreciate you being here. Some people asked me whether i would postpone this hearing. I said out of respect to you all , i wanted to make sure that we help this hearing. I wanted to make sure that you understood that. If you would all please rise and raise your right hand i will begin swearing un. Raise your right hand, please. Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give is true . The whole truth. Nothing but the truth, so help help you god. Let the record show. Thank you. You may be seated. The microphones are extremely sensitive. Please speak directly into them. Without direction, it will be made a part of your record. Thank you, chairman cummings cummings. Ranking member jordan. Thank you for being here. I am honored to be here. More importantly, i have have an incurable blood cancer. Prescription drugs are keeping me alive. I spent half a day at a clinic getting a infusion of drugs that are currently priced at 650,000. I relapsed twice. Unfortunately, i am failing on this current drug regime. The importance of innovation is not theoretical for me. It is literally lifeanddeath. People cannot afford them. When i learned i was sick my doctors put me on a drug. 16,000 a year. The principal reason it is so expensive because they have gamed the system and refused to sell samples. Taking johnson to johnson. I take one of its drugs. It has increased almost 20 in just over 20 years. Fibromyalgia and pain. Prescribed lyrica. To address the problem that we really have to come to grips. Skyhigh prices are not about innovation. No correlation between the cost and the price of a drug. Every drug approved from 20102016 was based on science, funded by taxpayers. The nih is taxpayers. The nih is the single largest funder of medical research in the world. Meanwhile, independent analyses show Drug Companies show more on advertising and marketing. Why do Drug Companies chart so much . Because they can. Yes. Drug companies should profit profit when they develop innovated drugs. We are way out of balance right now. Family finances, Health Outcomes and our lives. I want to suggest three things that we can do to balance the risks. Pricing power without taxpayer negotiations. Extending their government drafting monopolies. Mr. Jordan mentioned any competitive a4 delay deals. We need to correct those. We need direct medicare price negotiations. Our Current System is not working. We paid 23 times what other countries pay for the exact same drugs. Other countries negotiate, we should, too. Inflation caps just pass out of the Senate Finance committee. Bipartisan vote. Other ways to restrain list prices. We also need to restructure along the lines. Finally, we need more transparency. Huge Companies Cut deals to determine how much patients pay. Competition, free markets, cannot work without transparency. Right now, there is a fundamental question Drug Companies want us to ask. The childs ability to live, breathe, when it is your own cancer, the answer answer is anything. That is the wrong question. The question we should be asking is what is the right amount of money that drug company should make on these drugs. Literally hundreds of Clinical Trials underway. Currently priced at half 1 million or or more. We cannot a just any price the Drug Companies demand. I feel incredibly grateful to be here today representing patients all across the country. I believe the moment is at hand and we can address this problem. With bipartisan support, we will. Thank you again for having me. My name is ashley craig. I am 35 years old and i live in houston texas. A topselling drug. I took you merit to treat a chronic system. After finally getting approved for the drug had to pay 753 a month. To say this was a Financial Hardship would be an understatement. The drug cost more than my car payment, more than my Business Insurance, more than my food bill each month. I made i made the decision to suck it up. After months of unsuccessful pain and system management, i was informed the drugmaker had raised the price. My new Monthly Payment would be almost 1100 a month. I simply could not afford it any longer. Item make the difficult decision to wean myself off the drug. It was already expensive for me at 750 a month and i could not afford the 40 hike increase. Let me tell you a little bit about humira. It has been on the market since 2002. The price has gone up nearly 400 at 5147 a month. Making billions on the backs of patients. 20 billion alone in global sales last year. More revenue than every nfl team combined. Doing everything in the power to block competition. They have struck deals with more than a Dozen Companies that tried to have similar. In order to delay competition in the u. S. While abby was hiking prices and blocking competition in the u. S. , coming to the market in europe. As a result, abby began selling for 80 less overseas. Unfortunately, that is not the end of my story. I had a similar experience. Price hikes led to an affordability. As a result, my symptoms came back. To give you an idea of what a full body flareup feels like, i would like you to imagine getting a terrible sunburn. The kind that makes your entire body feverish. Then add falling into a better fire. That is what it feels like during a flare up without medication. That is why i am here today. Hr 1499 and hr nine and hr 2296 have both passed the energy and commerce committee. Stop granting companies from paying off Generic Companies that plan to bring a competitor to market. In exchange for this payment they often delay the product entry into the market. Patients like me are stuck facing bills of 1100 per month. The second bill called the fair drug pricing act would increase transparency and acquire on the backs of patients like me. These bills are just a start. Abusing their monopolies. You have the opportunity to advance legislation that curbs to the most egregious processes. It is not the last stop. Thank you for your time. Chairman, members of the committee, its an honor to be here today. I have come here today as jordans mom. The words i speak are my own and they come straight from my heart jordan is my amazing, funny, find, compassionate faith filled little boy. He is also in a race with the clock for his life. A doctor told us he has a rare and fatal wasting disease called muscular dystrophy. Jordan has already lived half of his life i just 10 years old. Affecting one in every 5000 boys and in a short time it robs them their ability. Walk, run, play, climb. Ride bikes. Use the bathroom independently. Dress themselves. Eventually, even the strength to hug their moms is ripped away. Jordan gives the best hugs ever. For him not to be able to do that is not okay. The heart and lungs are eventually affected which leads to a very young and devastating life expectancy. Because of innovation and laws that congress have passed over the years, i am here to tell you that my jordan now has hope. He is the opinion me of hope. The Natural History of this disease. A direct participant in helping to create hope for others. About two 1 2 years ago, jordan became one of 16 lucky boys in north america to be accepted into a critical trial. He has made weekly trips out of state touring this time to receive infusions without a single complaint ever. We have noticed that jordan is doing things that we are told a 10yearold child would not typically be able to do. He is still walking quite well. Playing outside for hours. Playing in a normal way while most kids his age cannot climb the stairs at all or cannot do it very easily. He is dancing, running, jumping in the pool. Keep in mind, robbing boys of these very things. Just last week a Research Team told me mra images of some of jordans muscles. They told me they did not look like the images of a person with muscular dystrophy. When jordan was first diagnosed, no Clinical Trial that he could participate in. Now there are multiple treatments in the pipeline. It is absolutely incredible how fast the science is moving. Jordan and other patients like him cannot afford to see this innovation slow or stop. I desperately need d scientists, doctors and Drug Companies to continue to develop trucks for my son and the millions of others with devastating diseases and for that reason i am here today to remind you that we must continue to to encourage and reward innovation. Bipartisan work that many of you have been a part of over the years, fasttrack designation, approval pathway, innovative trial designs, i expect toward and struggle will be soon. When that happens, it will probably be expensive. These are drugs that have been around for years. Lets please be careful in these conversations about drug pricing not to mention those two. Innovation is expensive and is also the only thing that will help ensure that boys like my jordan can be part of the first generation to change the history of this devastating disease. We lose the most valuable thing that we cannot put a price tag on. Human life. We cannot afford to let that happen. Access and affordability, treatments yet to be discovered for boys like my friend joseph who was 16 and waiting because he does not have anything yet. I am for you to do so carefully. One size does not fit all. The development of new therapies if we had done that 10 or 20 years ago, jordan would not be doing what he has done today. Back home in indiana today, gathering to pick up their kids. They are hearing all about their adventures. I will not be there for jordan. Instead, with his blessing, i came here to share this with you. The critical importance of new and better treatment for all of those who wait. I cannot wait to get home to hug him tonight and hopefully a never have to stop receiving those hugs. Because jordan cannot be here today to speak for himself, i want to leave you with a favorite quote of his. 4 i know the plans i have for you declares the lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future. Thank you today, all of you, from the from the bottom of my heart for caring about the future of millions of patients depending on you to keep innovation alive and for also caring about helping patients access these treatments. Keep in mind, please, that one size does not fit all. I welcome each and everyone of you to reach out to me. Just continue this important dialogue. Thank you very much. Thank you. Good morning. My name is sarah skipper. T1 international. Thank you so much for inviting me to come speak with you today and for taking the time to listen to some of the ways pharmaceutical companies are putting those above the lives of people like me. As a resident of indianapolis indiana, i was in the shadow of the national headquarters. My life has been at the limb of the American Families<\/a>. I recognize myself for five minutes to give an Opening Statement<\/a>. Today we are closing this work. The way we started our work with this congress. A hearing on Prescription Drug<\/a> prices. This is a bipartisan issue. That focuses on the many years. The first witness at our hearing was a woman named antoinette. A mother whose daughter died at 22 years of age after rationing insulin because she could not afford it. It was the subject of our hearing on hiv prevention drugs in may. Today, five patients and a Family Member<\/a> are here to share their stories. I urge all members who go back to your districts and to talk to your constituents about their experiences struggling to pay for lifesaving drugs. I fear you will discover that we are facing a drug crisis in america. We have seen time and time again Drug Companies<\/a>, skyrocketing prices, forcing families to make gutwrenching choices every day. Many families and having to choose between caring for themselves and their loved ones or paying for basic necessities, these skyrocketing prices are forcing families to take on debt, sacrifice their homes or sacrifice their healthcare altogether. Imagine having to pick between having a roof over your head or protecting your childs life. Between eating that day or taking a pill. Do you need to simply stay alive four americans around the country, these situations are in every day reality. Think about it. Americans are dying every year while pharmaceutical companies enjoy more and more profits. Our Witnesses Today<\/a> represent the one in four americans that struggle to afford the drugs that keep them healthy. In many cases, keep them alive. Unfortunately, Drug Companies<\/a> continue to raise prices. Reagan record profits. Reward their executives and shareholders all while stifling competition and preventing access to lifesaving drugs. Drug Companies Make<\/a> up only a quarter of the healthcare industry, but they collect more than half of its profits. Some drugs are developed with federal funding. Yet, the end of street responsibility to the taxpayer and wreaks massive profit from our investment. Drug Companies Use<\/a> a variety to increase their profitability. They use loopholes and a patent system to pay for a delay agreement with competitors to extend monopolies so they can keep increasing their prices. Even when there is supposed to be competition, socalled competitors increase their prices. Stuffing their pockets while the American Families<\/a> are left paying the bill. To be sure, we all want Drug Companies<\/a> to be successful. We want them to innovate. All of us depend on the pharmaceutical industry to develop cutting edge therapies and breakthrough drugs. An expense of the american taxpayers. That is why the committee has been investigating the pharmaceutical industries price increases. This investigation which began in january, focused on 17 drugs for the Medicare Part<\/a> d program. Our investigation has made significant progress, but we tend to plan to do more. The committee will take all the steps necessary with our investigation. Including with our quest to Drug Companies<\/a>. Why they are increasing their prices dramatically and how they are using the proceeds and what steps can be taken to reduce the prices. Our investigation will allow the American Public<\/a> to let the veil lift the veil on practices. We will help inform to bring drug prices down. This is a problem that everyone, even in this polarized time can come together to address. I am hopeful there will be another step in that direction. Now, i yield to the distinguished Ranking Member<\/a> of our committee. The cost of Prescription Drug<\/a>s is way too high. The chairman nozick, our constituents know it and certainly our panelists know it. These high drug races represent a failure. They feel that markets do not work and they are exploiting companies to line the market. They have the situation completely backwards. It stems from Government Intervention<\/a> in the pharmaceutical healthcare market. How did we get here . Leading to abuse of the patent system. These are the loopholes. These are the generic competition. They are tough. They require us to roll up our sleeves. Together to figure out how to make the system work together. We made some progress administratively and legislatively. October 2018 approving 110 generic drugs. Twentythree for brands that lacked competitions. 26 billion in savings. May 2017, there was an average of 73 generic applications approved per month up from about 50,000 approvals from january through april. In may of last year, President Trump<\/a> signed into law the right to try bill. Access to that. They years for the drugs to go through the entire bureaucratic process. New treatment opportunities for patients who exhausted all other existing options. A few that have already passed the Judiciary Committee<\/a> unanimously. A bill that i cosponsor. It would ensure that generics did timely access to lifesaving drugs that they can be available to more people more quickly. I am hopeful that the bill will be put on by short order. Putting forward a drug pricing drill when we return from the august recess. I hope the approaches different than what we saw on the pass. Seeking to deliver Real Solutions<\/a> to our real concerns. Setting back the system drastically the last time they were in charge. No republican collaboration. Putting controversial partisan bills in the drug pricing package. The United States<\/a> is light years ahead when it comes to groundbreaking medicine. It is no wonder our pharmaceutical companies spend 1 billion annually annually on research and development. Companies are entitled to make money on the drugs they invest in and develop. That process cannot be restored by Government Intervention<\/a>s that result in inflated prices. We must work to find americas cuttingedge innovation. These innovations make it to as many patients as possible. I want to thank David Mitchell<\/a> for joining the panel. Its good to see you again. The commitment is inspiring. Her son jordan has muscular dystrophy. Jordan is not just walking, but running and living a complete life. He would be here today, but he has that summercamp which is probably where kids need to be in the summertime. I look forward to a productive discussion this morning. Thank you very much. We will turn to our witnesses who are here to share their stories. First we have mr. David mitchell. Founder from my state. Welcome. A patient from houston texas. The mother of a patient from indianapolis indiana. Indianapolis indiana. A patient from granger indiana. Before i swear you and, let me just explain to you that we dont have as many members here today because we were expecting to be in session today and we are not. Members had to leave to go home. Understand we appreciate you being here. Some people asked me whether i would postpone this hearing. I said out of respect to you all , i wanted to make sure that we help this hearing. I wanted to make sure that you understood that. If you would all please rise and raise your right hand i will begin swearing un. Raise your right hand, please. Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give is true . The whole truth. Nothing but the truth, so help help you god. Let the record show. Thank you. You may be seated. The microphones are extremely sensitive. Please speak directly into them. Without direction, it will be made a part of your record. Thank you, chairman cummings cummings. Ranking member jordan. Thank you for being here. I am honored to be here. More importantly, i have have an incurable blood cancer. Prescription drugs are keeping me alive. I spent half a day at a clinic getting a infusion of drugs that are currently priced at 650,000. I relapsed twice. Unfortunately, i am failing on this current drug regime. The importance of innovation is not theoretical for me. It is literally lifeanddeath. People cannot afford them. When i learned i was sick my doctors put me on a drug. 16,000 a year. The principal reason it is so expensive because they have gamed the system and refused to sell samples. Taking johnson to johnson. I take one of its drugs. It has increased almost 20 in just over 20 years. Fibromyalgia and pain. Prescribed lyrica. To address the problem that we really have to come to grips. Skyhigh prices are not about innovation. No correlation between the cost and the price of a drug. Every drug approved from 20102016 was based on science, funded by taxpayers. The nih is taxpayers. The nih is the single largest funder of medical research in the world. Meanwhile, independent analyses show Drug Companies<\/a> show more on advertising and marketing. Why do Drug Companies<\/a> chart so much . Because they can. Yes. Drug companies should profit profit when they develop innovated drugs. We are way out of balance right now. Family finances, Health Outcomes<\/a> and our lives. I want to suggest three things that we can do to balance the risks. Pricing power without taxpayer negotiations. Extending their government drafting monopolies. Mr. Jordan mentioned any competitive a4 delay deals. We need to correct those. We need direct medicare price negotiations. Our Current System<\/a> is not working. We paid 23 times what other countries pay for the exact same drugs. Other countries negotiate, we should, too. Inflation caps just pass out of the Senate Finance<\/a> committee. Bipartisan vote. Other ways to restrain list prices. We also need to restructure along the lines. Finally, we need more transparency. Huge Companies Cut<\/a> deals to determine how much patients pay. Competition, free markets, cannot work without transparency. Right now, there is a fundamental question Drug Companies<\/a> want us to ask. The childs ability to live, breathe, when it is your own cancer, the answer answer is anything. That is the wrong question. The question we should be asking is what is the right amount of money that drug company should make on these drugs. Literally hundreds of Clinical Trials<\/a> underway. Currently priced at half 1 million or or more. We cannot a just any price the Drug Companies<\/a> demand. I feel incredibly grateful to be here today representing patients all across the country. I believe the moment is at hand and we can address this problem. With bipartisan support, we will. Thank you again for having me. My name is ashley craig. I am 35 years old and i live in houston texas. A topselling drug. I took you merit to treat a chronic system. After finally getting approved for the drug had to pay 753 a month. To say this was a Financial Hardship<\/a> would be an understatement. The drug cost more than my car payment, more than my Business Insurance<\/a>, more than my food bill each month. I made i made the decision to suck it up. After months of unsuccessful pain and system management, i was informed the drugmaker had raised the price. My new Monthly Payment<\/a> would be almost 1100 a month. I simply could not afford it any longer. Item make the difficult decision to wean myself off the drug. It was already expensive for me at 750 a month and i could not afford the 40 hike increase. Let me tell you a little bit about humira. It has been on the market since 2002. The price has gone up nearly 400 at 5147 a month. Making billions on the backs of patients. 20 billion alone in global sales last year. More revenue than every nfl team combined. Doing everything in the power to block competition. They have struck deals with more than a Dozen Companies<\/a> that tried to have similar. In order to delay competition in the u. S. While abby was hiking prices and blocking competition in the u. S. , coming to the market in europe. As a result, abby began selling for 80 less overseas. Unfortunately, that is not the end of my story. I had a similar experience. Price hikes led to an affordability. As a result, my symptoms came back. To give you an idea of what a full body flareup feels like, i would like you to imagine getting a terrible sunburn. The kind that makes your entire body feverish. Then add falling into a better fire. That is what it feels like during a flare up without medication. That is why i am here today. Hr 1499 and hr nine and hr 2296 have both passed the energy and commerce committee. Stop granting companies from paying off Generic Companies<\/a> that plan to bring a competitor to market. In exchange for this payment they often delay the product entry into the market. Patients like me are stuck facing bills of 1100 per month. The second bill called the fair drug pricing act would increase transparency and acquire on the backs of patients like me. These bills are just a start. Abusing their monopolies. You have the opportunity to advance legislation that curbs to the most egregious processes. It is not the last stop. Thank you for your time. Chairman, members of the committee, its an honor to be here today. I have come here today as jordans mom. The words i speak are my own and they come straight from my heart jordan is my amazing, funny, find, compassionate faith filled little boy. He is also in a race with the clock for his life. A doctor told us he has a rare and fatal wasting disease called muscular dystrophy. Jordan has already lived half of his life i just 10 years old. Affecting one in every 5000 boys and in a short time it robs them their ability. Walk, run, play, climb. Ride bikes. Use the bathroom independently. Dress themselves. Eventually, even the strength to hug their moms is ripped away. Jordan gives the best hugs ever. For him not to be able to do that is not okay. The heart and lungs are eventually affected which leads to a very young and devastating life expectancy. Because of innovation and laws that congress have passed over the years, i am here to tell you that my jordan now has hope. He is the opinion me of hope. The Natural History<\/a> of this disease. A direct participant in helping to create hope for others. About two 1 2 years ago, jordan became one of 16 lucky boys in north america to be accepted into a critical trial. He has made weekly trips out of state touring this time to receive infusions without a single complaint ever. We have noticed that jordan is doing things that we are told a 10yearold child would not typically be able to do. He is still walking quite well. Playing outside for hours. Playing in a normal way while most kids his age cannot climb the stairs at all or cannot do it very easily. He is dancing, running, jumping in the pool. Keep in mind, robbing boys of these very things. Just last week a Research Team<\/a> told me mra images of some of jordans muscles. They told me they did not look like the images of a person with muscular dystrophy. When jordan was first diagnosed, no Clinical Trial<\/a> that he could participate in. Now there are multiple treatments in the pipeline. It is absolutely incredible how fast the science is moving. Jordan and other patients like him cannot afford to see this innovation slow or stop. I desperately need d scientists, doctors and Drug Companies<\/a> to continue to develop trucks for my son and the millions of others with devastating diseases and for that reason i am here today to remind you that we must continue to to encourage and reward innovation. Bipartisan work that many of you have been a part of over the years, fasttrack designation, approval pathway, innovative trial designs, i expect toward and struggle will be soon. When that happens, it will probably be expensive. These are drugs that have been around for years. Lets please be careful in these conversations about drug pricing not to mention those two. Innovation is expensive and is also the only thing that will help ensure that boys like my jordan can be part of the first generation to change the history of this devastating disease. We lose the most valuable thing that we cannot put a price tag on. Human life. We cannot afford to let that happen. Access and affordability, treatments yet to be discovered for boys like my friend joseph who was 16 and waiting because he does not have anything yet. I am for you to do so carefully. One size does not fit all. The development of new therapies if we had done that 10 or 20 years ago, jordan would not be doing what he has done today. Back home in indiana today, gathering to pick up their kids. They are hearing all about their adventures. I will not be there for jordan. Instead, with his blessing, i came here to share this with you. The critical importance of new and better treatment for all of those who wait. I cannot wait to get home to hug him tonight and hopefully a never have to stop receiving those hugs. Because jordan cannot be here today to speak for himself, i want to leave you with a favorite quote of his. 4 i know the plans i have for you declares the lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future. Thank you today, all of you, from the from the bottom of my heart for caring about the future of millions of patients depending on you to keep innovation alive and for also caring about helping patients access these treatments. Keep in mind, please, that one size does not fit all. I welcome each and everyone of you to reach out to me. Just continue this important dialogue. Thank you very much. Thank you. Good morning. My name is sarah skipper. T1 international. Thank you so much for inviting me to come speak with you today and for taking the time to listen to some of the ways pharmaceutical companies are putting those above the lives of people like me. As a resident of indianapolis indiana, i was in the shadow of the national headquarters. My life has been at the limb of the Company Since<\/a> i was diagnosed with type one diabetes when i was five years old. The refusal to control the cost of the drug i depend on has wreaked heartbreak and have a call my life. My sisters and those who care about us. I dont remember my life without these burdensome diseases. Being diagnosed at such a young age i had to grow fast. I too appreciate life very early on. Auppercaseletter did i 1 unit. It will cost me my life. I can remember being in the hospital multiple times a week, nurses secretly spying on my mom to make sure she was not eating my food because my blood sugar would drop so fast. In actuality, my body was rejecting the insulin. I can remember showing teacher scars from my fingertips because they did not believe i was diabetic when i complained about not feeling well. Having such a huge responsibility at such a tender age makes me feel robbed of my childhood. I tried to stay in my lane is a little sister even though my brother may not think so. I feel my duty, i take take my duty as a big sister very seriously. When my baby sister was diagnosed with type i diabetes at the age of seven, setting a good sample set a thousand times higher. I remember seeing my sister and mothers weeping. I remember taking shelby in the bathroom of the Doctors Office<\/a> and trying to comfort her and tell her she would be okay. We have a fear of going through the same challenges of our aunt, passing away due to complications of type i diabetes. My sister and i have been fighting for our lives since we were children and it has not been easy. Traveling to mexico or canada for insulin or even by insulin off the black market. The people under the age of 30 died last month due to rationing and not being able to afford their insulin is gutwrenching. According to a survey done i t1 international, one in four people ration their insulin. This is why the movement to make insulin affordable for all is so important. During my freshman and sophomore year of college i do ration my insulin for reasons to this day i still do not understand why i was denied medicaid. I aged out. The last prescription i received from my doctor came with a note saying i am sorry, but this is the last prescription i can fill for you. My professors knew my predicament. Some could care less and did not care to i spent the majority of it in the bathroom or sleep. I survived by eating less food so i could take less insulin. This is the fear that i had to live throughout my education. This is the reality thats only people with diabetes face every single day. It is may 2018. I am working fulltime for a Big Corporation<\/a> with benefits. Even with insurance, my 30 day insulin supply was 1000. That is just insulin. Does not include test strips, needles and other supplies. I could not afford to purchase my School Supply<\/a> insulin so my sister wrist or life by sharing hers. I took my nighttime dose of insulin and left the file on my dresser for my sister to see. I assumed that she would think already took i dose, but she did not. She thought that i still needed to take my insulin for the evening, so she took less of her normal dose to ensure that there was enough left for me to take. She put herself at risk. The next day she went to diabetic ketoacidosis. Had to be hospitalized for debt for days. The veins in her body blew. I could not afford my insulin because eli lilly, and others, refuse to control the cost of insulin. It almost cost my sister her life. Price gouging is killing people. Pharmaceutical companies are committing murder and getting away with it. You have some say so im making. While young people continue to die from rationing, you are are just as responsible. Change for this issue will not you sprint. The marathon continues. As a patient advocate like me, i will not stop speaking out until you find a way put an end insul. No matter how long we take, we will be building our numbers and demanding change because our lives depend on it. Thank you. Thank you very much. Chair cummings. Ranking member jordan. Members of the committee. Thank you for inviting me to share my story. I am from granger, indiana. Just just outside of south bend. At the age of 40 i was suddenly widowed when my husband died from a sudden heart attack. I raised the children on my own. I was fortunate, at that that time, to be a teacher, and then an administrator. That set me up for a good retirement. That all changed, however, when, when i was diagnosed three years ago. An incurable but treatable blood cancer upon my diagnosis i went under the bone Marrow Transplant<\/a> and chemotherapy. I am really blessed to be in remission today. I am living on borrowed time, but i am thankful for every day. To keep my cancer a, i must take the drug. Initially, this plan felt really good. I would get to live longer. Spend summers at our favorite lake and wisconsin. That, i am am really grateful. When i learned the cost, i was horrified. The prices over 250,000 250,000 per year. Last january on Medicare Part<\/a> d, because im 70, i went in and out of the donut hole paying 4950 that first month and then more than 8000 out of pocket over the rest of the year. That cost was totally affordable for me. After just one year, it set me into serious debt. I was entirely underwater. I do make the heartbreaking decision to refinance my house. It was three years from being paid off and now i am starting completely over. In the last year, i have been fortunate to receive a grant for the cost outofpocket. This is yeartoyear and it can always fall through. It is income dependent. I dont feel that i should have to depend on these yearly grants to be able to live and afford a medication that i need to survive. There are years that i do qualify, years that i dont qualify. Contributing to my community. Teaching public schools. Raising my children. I do not feel that it is right that despite all this hard work and careful planning i face financial challenges because of the cancer i have no control over. I am really thrilled and grateful for the additional time this drug has given me. Having cancer is really hard. I should not have to lose my savings and stress over finances just to stay alive. I am encouraged by the Action Congress<\/a> is starting to take in the hearings of the last couple of months and i am particularly grateful for this committee for listening. What patients need most israel change to to the system and congressional action that will bring down drug prices. For me, one solution mr. Jordan talks about. Create uses to deny Generic Companies<\/a> access to samples. This prevents generic competitors to coming to market and allows them to set the price i came to d. C. Last year to encourage congress to pass this important piece of legislation. I am grateful that the bill has been passed. I really hope it gets over the finish line as soon as possible. Thank you. Thank you very much. A few minutes to answer a few questions. First of all, i want to thank our witnesses for being here. Clearly, you have shared very, very, personal stories of pain. So often, out of our pain, comes our passion to do our purpose. Pain, passion, purpose. So, we thank you. You are here to remind us of the actions of Drug Companies<\/a> and raising prices have real consequences for real people. Let me start with you. What is the most difficult choice you or your Family Member<\/a>s have had to make. Just so you will be prepared, i will ask you the same question. Thank you. The most difficult thing was just keeping up with rent. We had to move around a lot. It was either we paid the rent or me and my sister lived. As an adult now, i feel that ive made the sacrifices where i just enjoy my life. I am 23 years old old and i am tired. I dont want to be tired anymore i dont want anybody else to feel how i feel. I feel that it is unfair that only the four people under the age of 30 who died last month, but any and everyone who has been affected i rationing that they did not get to have that decent quality of life. Same question. What has been the most difficult decision you have had to make . You talked about your son, a race against time. One of the things that i have noticed, nih is a phenomenal place. Coming up with things that used to be fatal, coming up with solutions. Hopefully, things that you have talked about will be helpful. What is the most difficult decision you had to make with regard to your situation . One difficult situation i have had to face, a decision with jordan, a decision that was difficult, but a decision that when he was diagnosed, i did not even think i would be able to be in the position to have to make a decision. Jordan qualified for two Clinical Trials<\/a>. For similar drugs that are designed to do the same thing. I actually had to make a decision at the last minute to choose one drug company over another because of the design. One of the Clinical Trial<\/a> designs, our boys, one third of them were asked to be on a placebo for for 96 weeks. That is really hard when you know that what happens. Like i said, at jordans age, we never thought that he would be doing the things he is doing. If you were in a Clinical Trial<\/a> right now, receiving a placebo for 96 weeks, we know what happens. We know what happens when these kids dont get treatment. It is kind of a bittersweet thing to say. I never thought i be able to have Clinical Trials<\/a> to choose for my son. I am extremely grateful. This is not the purpose of this committee. It is worth saying, since you asked the question that since we need to continue to rethink the clinical design as well as. For me, probably one of the most difficult decisions is having to make the choice to go. The current one that i am on, i just got married, my husband and i had to make the decision, i cant have kids if i am on it. It is absolutely not allowed because it is a hard chemo drug. That sucks, to be quite frank. I wish there were generic options for me. I dont mind paying for drug, but it needs to be accessible. New biologics. The current ones on the market. That is huge for somebody like me. Thank you. One of the most difficult things is the induction therapy that i needed. I went to the drug counter. My bill was over 4000. I could not pay it. I was shocked. That was delayed free month until i came up with the cash. That was difficult. Really difficult to refinance my home. Thankful i have a home to to refinance. To be that close to being debtfree and having to start over was very difficult for me. Again, i have many many more questions to ask. My minutes are up. We will now yield to miss miller thank you, mr. Chairman. I want to thank each one of you for being here and sharing your stories. They are heart wrenching in their very real and very personal for you. And for your loved ones. I am grateful for you coming and sharing with us today. There is difficult balance that somehow we have to strike in all of this. They need to be looked at. They need to be looked upon from the big perspective. You are in a situation where the cost for medication for you and your loved ones is just astronomical. There is about 5 , you are than 5 of americans having to pay the list price on drugs. I dont know if if you are having to pay the list price are getting help on that or not, but fewer than 5 actually paid the list price. A couple of you spoke specifically and i went back and looked at celgene. That took over 14 years to develop that drug. 800 million to produce that drug. From what i have been able to see, about 140,000 patients taking hematology and oncology medicines and they have been assisted through the support programs which has contributed over 1. 4 billion back to patients who are involved in taking drugs. Reinvesting some 37 of the revenues back into research and development. Somehow we have to strike a balance here. There is no question as to the enormous cost of people like you who are here today. All of us in this room are grateful for the tremendous job that Drug Companies<\/a> are doing to come up with drugs that help. Where you are able to be with your grandchildren. Being able to get those drugs back to us in an affordable way is another issue. I am grateful for you coming here. Pharmaceutical companies spend over 169 billion in newly on research development. We are blessed to be in this country where they are putting that kind of money in the research and development to help. Situations like this. One thing that i was intrigued about with your situation and reading about your story is the right to try interests that you have and worked with then governor pants. Can you tell us a little bit about your experience for that . Fighting for the right to try. Sure. When jordan was five, we did not have a Clinical Trial<\/a> available to us. I heard about a drug coming up through the pipeline. Based on the inclusion criteria, i did not believe that jordan would be able to make it into the Clinical Trial<\/a>. I am passionate about patients receiving access to treatment. I dont care what the pathway is. Im just passionate about them being able to access those treatments. We did not think jordan would qualify for a trial. We started fighting for the right to try law which says if a drug has made it through phase one and a patient wants to try it and you have a drug company and a doctor willing to make that happen, you should have a right to to do that. We did start in our home state of indiana when mike pence was our governor, it passed with unanimous bipartisan support. We did start to work on federal legislation which was passed into law last may. It does bear jordans name. Jordan is is not receiving a treatment for the rights to try pathway. It is through a Clinical Trial<\/a> which is what we wanted to start with. I am happy to tell you today about our friend who is a former navy pilot battling als. He did not make it into a Clinical Trial<\/a>. A few months ago, jordan got got to be there with matt when matt got his first treatment of experimental treatment for als through the right to try pathway jordan being a part of seeing that come full circle and seeing someone that has been able to benefit. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Before we go to miss norton, mr. Mitchell, will you comment . Would you comment on what was said. He makes a very good point when he talks about research and development. There are programs to discount drugs. A couple of things, mr. Chairman. Thank you. Approximately two thirds of americans pay some or all of the drugs based on list price. People in high deductible plans pay high price for their deductible. People on medicaid based on list price. People that dont have healthcare coverage pay based on list price. It is roughly two thirds of all americans paying in full or in part based on list price. That is the first thing i want to straighten out. That is a lot of money for a lot of people where prices are high. Second, i know with respect that you just quoted about the development. A drug that was invented, derivative of it. Invented in the 1950s. Stumbled into it accidentally. Based on Clinical Trials<\/a> done in academia. That drug came to market in 2005. There is still no generic. The reason is, the company has been able. Five years for small molecules. Twelve for a biologic. A lot of money. At the end of that, congress has said we are supposed to let markets drive down price through competition. Celgene has prevented that from happening. It was introduced at 20054 6000. It cost dollars. It cost 18,000. One capsule cost 720. This is an old drug. There is no excuse for this. Not plowing all the money they claim to plow. They are looking at an old drug which is how they are keeping their stock price up. If we did not let them do that, they would be forced to innovate to make money. Thank you. Miss norton. Thank you very much. First of all for this hearing, but very much for the testimony we have heard today. I appreciate the elaboration. No one on this side wants anything less than fair for the extraordinary work that the Drug Companies<\/a> do. We have had abundant evidence of a great deal more than anybody regarding as fair return. Of course, people people go to canada. There is every reason to believe that Drug Companies<\/a> there want a fair return. I think you have made the best case. A better case than we couldve made by describing your own experience. I would like to ask a question. I was intrigued by the fact that both she and her sister had had diabetes. Is this type one . Yes. This is very serious. Did this manifest itself when you were children . Yes one of those drugs we would want to look at to see if there has been an increase over time. I do not know of improvements that have been made in insulin. Do you know of improvements that have been made in insulin . Are you told you are Getting Better<\/a> insulin then you would have gotten 10 years ago . No, maam maam. It has been the same. The drug itself has not changed. No. What about the prices . The prices have gone up. Over 300 in the last 10 years. How has that affected, this increase, and prices. You indicate you had been in college during part of this time i believe i remember you said that the drug was miscalculated. Yes. You could risk your life. Did you ever ration the drug . Yes. Eat less food. Okay. So, with insulin, there is like a little calculation. How many carbs youre going to eat. You have to figure what your blood sugar and a correction factor, what you will correct for your blood sugar. I did not have enough insulin. I did not have a choice but to take less insulin. Because i was not getting a consistent supply. I had to eat less food because i did not have enough insulin to really take care of myself. You were trying to make what insulin you had last longer. Yes, maam. How could you calculate, did you find some scientific way, some measurement to calculate whether or not you were at risk when you decided to take less insulin or how much insulin to take . Less then the calculated dose . I do not have any pancreatic function. If i do the math, i can give you an example. If my sugar is 250 and my target is 150, i would have to subtract the 250 and the 150 and divide that by what is called a correction factor. So, for every 35 points over my target, i would have to take one unit. I would add that, every seven grams of carbohydrates, i would take one unit. That is how you calculate it. If i do not have an actual monthly supply of that, i have to figure out how to make that stretch. By eating less food, i was not able to really affect my blood sugar. This sounds very risky. I i understand that your sister was hospitalized and nearly died last year as a result of rationing insulin. How did that happen . Did she and correctly calculate . We were literally sharing the same vial of insulin. We were both using the same vial. She took less than what she was supposed to take to ensure there was enough in the vial so that i could take my dose. She did not realize that i had already taken my dose. So she took less so that i could be able to take my dose. Case made. Thank you very much, miss miller. Thank you, chairman. In your testimony you discussed the importance of not finding a onesizefitsall solution when it comes to treating patients. Can you talk about what this means for your family came. Well, for example, jordan has a rare disease that affects one in 5000 voice. The drug that jordan is trying right now is only designed to help a of patients so jordan has the rare disease and is a rare subset of that. We have lots of drugs are now coming up in the pipeline and not just for duchenne but other diseases. Even though jordan is doing well and has a treatment now its not a cure. Its designed to slow the progression of his disease. Hes ten. He is still young but doing well but we need more treatments to continue to be developed in treatments for maurices son joseph who is 16 years old. We need treatment for all her boys in treatments that have yet to be discovered. Innovation is so important to us and its not a onesizefitsall. Like i said in my testimony these are heart wrenching stories that these other witnesses are sharing. I want to be careful there were not mashing the two together because something has to be done about this, right . But we also have to protect innovation and make sure companies are still going to work in the space. I need them in the space and so too so many of the people. I thank you hit the nail on your head with your comments there. We all do want to do something. It seems to me youre buying time and by the time your son is 16 you are hoping that its been changed even more. Again, its so heartwrenching. What suggestions would you have for congress and how we can better encourage the innovation and rewarded . I dont have a big answer to that. I just came in today to remind you as you are having these discussions remember to not make decisions if you are changing policies and please do not make decisions that will impact the innovation and squelch thats because it is okay the companies are making a profit. How much . I dont know but i look how much money in jordan alone we travel out of state into an. For the first years we went out of state every single week. We are just one and hes one of 16 and this is a small trial. Some Clinical Trials<\/a> are much bigger than this. I just look at how much money i dont know how much but i know traveling is an expensive and i think of the doctors and nurses and surgeries he had and had two muscle biopsies where they had to take a sample of his before he started the trial and another 124 weeks later to see if he was producing more disturbing and im happy to tell you all 16 boys are producing more disturbing which is incredible but when you think about the surgeon who did that and the nurses in the room and the scientists in the storage of the muscle biopsies theres so much that goes in a lot of expense that goes into Clinical Trials<\/a>. I want to make sure were not forgetting about this as we have these conversations. I think your grasp is great and we can all learn from this. One of the hardest parts of my job is trying to see the unintended consequences of whatever we legislate or make as a law or a rule because five years down, when youre down we may be dealing with something we do not intend to happen. We are always trying to be so careful with what we do. Thank you for being here today and i feel that my time. Thank you, mr. Welch. Thank you, i want to thank you. Every once in a while we get an opportunity to do something useful in congress, not often but today is one of those days. I just want to give you my reaction because its not for you to tell us what we should do to bring these prices down. You are the face of the harm caused by our failure to bring the prices down. Each one of you has a separate story and i know you lost your husband at 40 and raised those kids alone and you and your sister sharing your insulin and what i loved about listening to you is you are living your life you got a real challenge. Its outrageous. You should not have to contend with unaffordable medications that can happen to anybody sitting up here but its just the luck of the draw. When faced with that theres not a fearless thing. They dont know why it happened. Theres nothing you did to make it happen. Then you own it. You have to make a decision and you each made that decision and you can live your life. You will fall in love and get married and you live with that yeah, thats life affirming. What i find so inspiring about it is you are not angry. Youre frustrated and worried but i did not hear anger. In you are entitled to some anger at us because its our job to make certain that these companies dont rip off the patent system and dont rip off the taxpayer and dont game the system. Its for us to figure out how they are doing it. You testified, mr. Mitchell, many times and i think is as knowledgeable as anybody about all the ways in which the Companies Put<\/a> the profits ahead of people. I think its really helpful for you to be here for us to hear you. We are starting to come together. Mr. Cummings has been a leader on trying to get the prices down for years. It is starting to make a difference. The Senate Finally<\/a> passed legislation yesterday that will put a significant dent in the bring down costs by about 100 billion and what i get so frustrated at is the selfrighteous justification from a lot of the Companies Making<\/a> a lot of money but if we do anything for the prices affordable anything was close to pay for all these medications and all the other countries except ours it will end quote, innovation. [laughter] it may and 100 milliondollar paydays which does but bottom line we are all in this together and have to have politics is about trying to find ways with the things that are common problems and we can come up with solutions that work for all of us. Thats the job. There has got to be a commitment that i know the german has with many of us. If you get medication you got to be able to afford it. I just want to stay on my behalf and i bet i speak for everybody, thank you for deciding to just keep living your life each day despite the challenge you face and my hope is we will do our job to deserve your respect that you have earned yourself. I want to say that you. Mr. Mitchell, i have a little time left. I will use your time if you will allow me. I will. I want to quote secretary azar who said i have been a pharmaceutical ceo and im aware of the old tired of talking points that if we take 1 dollar out of profit the engine of innovation will grind to a halt in this country. Im tired of those talking points and so is President Trump<\/a>. I just want to say, amen. Thank you. Thank you all very much. Esther chairman, thank you. Mr. Jordan. Agee mr. Chairman. You are living proof of something i have long believed that we have all these lobbyists running around town but no highpriced lobbyists like a mom on a mission. We appreciate your passion and love for your son, jordan. You talked about your situation and if you dont mind how are you do you have private insurance . How do you cover these tests and trials that jordan is a part of . The drug company pays for it. Really . Interesting. I think thats really important to know that that these Clinical Trials<\/a> are extensive and the money does not always come from taxpayer money. I know some dollars and i know mih i know that there is funding for rare disease but jordans trial is being paid for by his drug company so all of those trips we make and all the doctors and nurses and drugs and all of it they are paying for that and so that is why believe me, none of us want high drug prices and no one in this room and no one in this country thanks we want that but i just dont want us to miss the point that sometimes there are reasons the drug prices are high and in jordans case its reasonable to expect that the drug will be expensive for that reason. Doctor mitchell, you mentioned in your Opening Statement<\/a> three things need to happen. Can you walk us through those again . Both you and all of you talk about this balance we need to you want the innovation to happen because as you said in your Opening Statement<\/a> without innovation they will not find what needs to be found for you to continue to live so innovation is critical but price matters, to. That is where were at. Lets figure out how we can keep both and i think you had a threepoint you made in your Opening Statement<\/a>. I appreciate you offering me the chance to repeat them. We need to reform patent law. The act you helped sponsor and an act in congress is important and paid for delay deals that then dont allow and erics bio similar to come to market timely and citizen positions and 90 of which are filed by Drug Companies<\/a> and 92 are [inaudible] by the fda that former commissioner gottlieb flagged as a problem, patent picketing that senator cornyn is try to take on and this is to make the system that you all built from work so that we can report the innovation with exclusivity and patent times and let them make money because you did innovation and took a risk. Exactly right. His reason patent protections in the constitution we want people to take risk and come up with great ideas, innovative things to do it. So, we have to make a balanced so when that time is over that our system so its not working enough one. We fundamentally believe that the United States<\/a> should do what every other country in the world does in market darkly with the Drug Companies<\/a> and strike a noninterference clause and medicare should negotiate drug prices. We think negotiations is the essence of the capitalist system and when you see a situation with a common entity price to you thats not freemarket but thats giving a monopoly allowing the monopoly to be enforced at taxpayer expense. Third, we do think down the supply chain one of the problems with the system is that list prices go up everybody down the supply chain makes more money and so they all have incentive to have list prices continue to go up. Chief among them are the pdms and we think that secret rebates of that policy we dont think they work for patients and as a patient i cant know if the preferred drug on the formulary is there because its the best drug or the least expensive, and equally effective drugs or they are because they got a big kick back from the drug company. This is happening but would like you to dress transparency with pbms. I understand. I appreciate that. The key to me is we have this amazing system where we do get innovation in the greatest drugs developed throughout the Market Research<\/a> in the United States<\/a> and cant stop we need to make sure the continues but it happens in a way that people can afford medicine they need and treatment they need which thank you all for being here today. Mr. Chairman i go back. Mr. Chairman thank you i want to praise you for calling this extraordinary important hearing at the beginning of our recess. I wish all the media would swarm over this congress when we conduct oversight into governmental corruption and criminality. Were here today because this is a crime to. This is corruption and nationwide scandal. I must say the finest and most Inspiring Panel<\/a> of witnesses i have seen it since i got to congress and i hope every american takes time to watch your testimony today or tonight or over the weekend i wish i had an hour to question all of you and mr. Mitchell, we have a special attachment to just money because its so lucid and brilliant and clear and because you are my constituents in bethesda, maryland and make the district of maryland proud but i wish i knew someone who had millions of twitter and snapped at followers all over america who can retweet your testimony and i could prevail upon our distinguished freshmen members of the committee to make us famous today and make you famous today, mr. Mitchell. My friend from ohio launched his remarks today with the now obligatory attacks on socialists but its not socialism that are jacking up the prices Prescription Drug<\/a>s unaffordable for millions of americans and its not socialists who are stifling competition but Large Pharmaceutical Companies<\/a> themselves. This would be no surprise to my beloved adam smith who understood that the companies are in the business of prophets, not out of altruism but out of selfinterest. Thats what makes the market work but if you are. It is to get so big and powerful that they take over the system they will destroy competition. Every significant freemarket ecommerce has understood that. That is what is going on and if they can make profit by paying off generic competitors to stay out of the market and thereby keep prices inflated they will do it. If they can make extra profit by obtaining new drug patents for old drugs that are long been on the market they will do that. If they can inflate their profits by lobbying congress to keep us from engaging in the cardinal market activity of negotiating the lower prices they will do that, too. Our job is are presented is in congress is not to bow down to large corporations but to stand up for them for the Public Interest<\/a> in for the people. Mr. Mitchell, in two years as a person dealing with an illness, serious illness, you built a community of more than 150,000 patients and families to fight for lower Prescription Drug<\/a>s prices and to fight for real competition into fight against monopoly prices. Now, you say that these high drug prices are not about innovation and that may have been the single most important thing you said. Explain why high drug prices are not about innovation . There is no correlation and multiple academics have studied this between the cost of to develop a drug in the price at which it is sets. It is that as high as the company can set its because of what you said, they are profit maximizers. As long as we let them do that will continue to do that. White with a stop . Its their job to take care of their shareholders. That is my concern. That wrecked the balance between ensuring that we give a really good which in return for excellent Innovative New<\/a> drugs and ensure that a price is set that is affordable. May i give you one example . Yes, then i have a followup. Im concerned that director of nih reports theres an impending cure coming for sickle cell out of nih. We checked and it turns out nih invested 3 million [inaudible] and nih reports is spending 100 million a year right now on sicklecell care these gene therapies are coming to market between 500,002,000,000. If we have a cure for sickle cell for nih that would be for 100,000 people in this country that have circles out will cost us 100 billion in their 400 gene therapies in development. How will we pay for this . Let me follow up on the broad representative of not only you but of the nih which invests billions of dollars in scientific and medical research to fight the killer diseases that our preparation is struggling with. When they come up with breakthroughs those scientific inventions and discoveries are used by these companies so should the Public Investment<\/a> in the research be also considering when we are deciding the regulation of Prescription Drug<\/a> prices. Gentlemens time has expired but you may finish or question. Thank you. We believe it should and also we think we should Pay Attention<\/a> we talked with a companys financing Clinical Trials<\/a> that we give them tax breaks for that. The drug act or trials that are done or it gives a tax break. Taxpayers not only reach their nih but the various Tax Advantages<\/a> have accrued their companies and dont stop that. Keep it going. I need new drugs or i will die. That is straight up a fact. We wanted to let the dogs to come forward at prices we cant afford. Mr. Roy. Thank you, chairman. Specifically i want to thank the chairman for continuing to have hearings on this topic and shining the spotlight on this issue. I concur with my colleagues were saying that this is a inspiring hearing of sorts. This is something hopefully weve got a bunch of bipartisan interest in trying to solve. Mr. Mitchell ive been particularly interested in what you had to say and i agree with my colleague from maryland that youve presented this in a particularly lucid way and in a way i think shares what i believe. I would add a quote that its okay companies are making a profit but how much, i dont know. That pretty much sums up my general philosophy on this. Right . I want innovation to continue companies to make the maximum dollar they can make to encourage innovation within some sort of boundaries recognizing that our patent system is constitutionally prescribed and critical to the formation of these drugs. As i listened to testimony to spend time with people dealing with my loma when i was at m. D. Anderson seven years ago. In fact, i was trying to remember when it was and i was sitting here looking for my own email files in gmail and looking for it and found july 28, 2011 which would be this coming sunday would be eight years. This is the email back and work with my wife. I thought i had walking pneumonia and are starting to figure out i did not. I now know that was july 28 was a date. I found out a few days later and got the results of that it was hodgkins lymphoma and i said is that the good, bad kind . The doctor said i guess its the good kind. But going through that obviously changes your perspective. I was on the trial and talk to [inaudible] at m. D. Anderson and spent every two weeks from august to january of 2012 going to m. D. Anderson in the trial clinic section there at m. D. Anderson and getting treated with this and it was not fda approved at that point. It was fda approved for relapsed patients. I was a new patient. Im very grateful that that drug was out to market in the Pharmaceutical Company<\/a> was making money doing it. Some of the research that went into developing that as mr. Mitchell you have said came through nih and other avenues of publicly funded research including the university of texas and other avenues. For me, the question im trying to wrestle with and often in congress we dont acknowledge what we dont know when in fact, we theres a lot more we dont know that we know. I dont know the answers to how much money that is coming through nih and publicly funded research that then goes to a privately Held Corporation<\/a> agreements that exist and how much profit should be allowed. I cringe when i think about what the government is setting what profit is allowed. I believe the markets want to market to work but as my colleague from maryland was talking about we dont always have a bull market going on here because you got these issues. I dont mean to filibuster here because i could sit here for an hour having giveandtake as ive been intrigued by what you had to say. Im interested in a number of different pieces of legislation including the ones i mentioned you mentioned some legislation each of you have and looking at all of that im cosponsoring legislation the term act that patients for Affordable Drugs<\/a> which i think now mr. Mitchell you are part of the founding is supportive of trying to stop the games that patent committees play by checking these things out and tweaking the formula and moving it down the line. These are all things we need to look at. Again, provided that it has rightly been pointed out and i think all the panelists that we preserve innovation and make sure there are abundant supply of drugs continuing to be developed so we have these lifesaving cures and able to do to be that around the world with companies that are structured to do for profits. We got a lot of work to do that the patent system is i gained and [inaudible] are not driving up prices and getting more transparency in the process and the three points you outlined. I just did which i hated you and i use my five minutes about asking the question but i apologize for that. I appreciate the question that you have answered and that youve taken the time out of your busy schedules to be here but i think the chair for having this hearing. Miss alexandria ocasiocort ocasiocortez. I appreciate you holding this hearing. I think first and foremost that each and every one of you, i want to say firstly i am sorry. Im sorry you all are going through the things you are going through. I understand and have experience not all of what you are experiencing but some of it. When i was 16 years old my father was diagnosed with a rare form of lung cancer. He was in experimental trials in order to save his life. My family almost lost our home in order to try to keep him alive and just try to keep our family together. Many people know that i was working in a restaurant when i collected but they dont know why. The reason why was because we lost my father to a rare form of lung cancer and could not find treatment for him and the other thing i want to say to is that none of this is your fault. So often we are made to feel guilty for the things we cannot afford and there is no reason that our treatment should be less expensive in the first place. One of the things i want to get at is this idea that all these drugs should be as expensive as they are right now. I dont think that that is true. Miss skipper you said with your insurance it was 1000 a month, is that correct . Yes. When insulin was first developed the patent was sold and do you understand do you know the story . For 1 dollar. Thats how much the patent for all insulin was sold for. Do you know the reason why its a thousand dollars with insurance for you . No. Neither do i. I have no idea. Frankly, i dont think corporations i dont think they will give us the reason why. A lot has been made about how much money has been spent on research and development between 2006 213,465,000,000,000 was invested in research and moment and every dollar put into research and develop it is a good dollar spent. Let me see, mr. Mitchell, are you familiar with the stock buybacks . I know what they are. What is a stock buyback . When a company decides to purchase shares of its stock in order to drive up its stock price. Between those rough we ten years 465 billion spent on research and development. The amount that pharmaceutical spent on that same time to buy their own stock for the sole purpose of driving up the price was 516 billion. They spent more their entire budget on research and development on a tactic to drive up their own stock price. Stock buybacks used to be illegal in this country. Once they were made legal they were made or were allowed and one of those things when a company buys their own stock it drives up the price of the stock and something doesnt talked about is that ceo pay is tied to stock price. Ceos right now are not advised to invest in research in the moment and incentivize to raise their stock price. Theres a lot of debate about what can be structured whether we can go singlepayer or whether we maintain our insurance system the way it is and whether you dont et cetera but i think one very clear thing that we can see mr. Chair is that if we eliminated stock buybacks we could reduce the cost that Pharmaceuticals Companies<\/a> by half. Just research and development in the stock buybacks alone and again, i want to thank each and every single one of you for sharing your story today. There is no reason for a drug as simple as insulin which cost 21 in canada for a 10milliliter bottle to cost the equivalent of a mortgage payment or to mortgage payments. With that, i yield. Mr. Meadows. Thank you, mr. Chairman. My apologies for being a little bit late. I was at the white house working on Prescription Drug<\/a> prices. I want to let you know its bringing a number of us together from opposite sides of the aisle and ive had a number of conversations with the chairman and we have a passion to make is not just political but to make it real and you should never have to ration yourself with insulin but also be able to have that affordable drug as ms. Cortez just mentioned because that the drugs been around for a long time. I can tell you there was one regulation that was changed just one week ago that will start to help with that and there are more people post but we need to work a bipartisan way and you have a commitment for a bipartisan effort to make sure we do this. My good friend from vermont, mr. Welch, mentioned that they passed something out of senator grassleys committee yesterday. Now, is that the perfect answer . I can tell you its not. We have but i can tell you that democrats, republicans are looking at this very closely. Help is on the way, in the near future and i can tell you i believe that we must announce an initiative that hopefully will gain traction, legislatively, in the house and senate and an act on that. When we come back from recess in september i believe we can act on that. I want to hit on one era. You mentioned pbm. The middle man that continues to, in ways, drive up prices. It has become part of our delivery system. As we look at that we created pbms. I dont know if you know that but when hmos came around we created pbms. And yet we are seen this artificial increase in Retail Prices<\/a> that make it difficult. Would you agree with that . Yeah, the headwater of the problem is the lift list prices. We found a system downstream as patients we have a real problem with secret rebates. We dont think they are designed to serve us and we think they are designed to serve people and make money for those who designed the system. Thank you for sharing the fact that you are benefiting from the Clinical Trial<\/a> aspect. One of the things i believe would be helpful in perhaps you can be a great advocate for this is as we look at Clinical Trials<\/a> the expense of getting groundbreaking drugs to market and theres a clinical one, clinical two, clinical free trial and what i believe just like weve done on a few drugs, hiv and a few other cancer drugs is once we do that clinical two trial and shown that there is safety allow those to go ahead and come to market. Allow those so that while were doing that Clinical Trial<\/a> and we know that the harms are limited that we go ahead and allow those to come to market and allows Public Companies<\/a> who are innovative to bring them to market. Do you think that would be help . Yes. I was hopeful that would be your answer. The other aspect we have to get to is because of the way we have structured Prescription Drug<\/a> prices not just for Medicare Part<\/a> d but because of the pbms and its a very integrated system in terms of delivery so you have retail price and that price and rebates and when we start to try to hit on one lever or the other it has an opposite or can have an opposite effect. For example, ms. Skipper, if we were to work on one area and say we were going to eliminate the Pbms Companies<\/a> actually take the rebates they get from pbms to lower insurance prices. Its a very complex thing so here is my commitment to you. I believe its one that the chairman supports. I can tell you its one the administration supports because i just left. We will lower Prescription Drug<\/a> prices and we are going to do that without increasing insurance premiums to pay for it. Its time we act and the time is now. I thank you all for being here and i go back. I want to thank the gentlem gentleman. To ensure you hes absolutely right and theres not a week goes by that we are not trying to figure this out and trying to work with the white house to get it done. I want to thank you for working with us. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I appreciate your leadership and its a source of pride for all of us on the committee that the very first hearing we have in this committee and in the session is on reducing Prescription Drug<\/a>s. I want to thank you all for being here today. Ms. Skipper, you said you were 23 years old and tired. We are tired. Like you, millions of families are suffering, all the people who love you and support you in this journey and the fact that you have to have a nice your lived experience to be seen and heard and you will thank us for listening but thats a too low bar and its high time we act. You are rationing lifesaving medication in exchange that will be bent rationing our response and our compassion and our due diligence. It is critical that we act and act in a bipartisan fashion. Although insulin has not changed since the mid 1990s its prices skyrocketed in communities of color have been disproportionally impacted. According to the American Diabetic Association<\/a> black americans are more 70 more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes and white americans. One in three adults in this country will have diabetes by 2050. The price of insulin is nearly tripled from the 200 to 6000 over the last decade and impossible price tag especially for our young people and young adults. Ms. Skipper, could you speak to how have you been attaining insulin in a recent month and year . Through donations. Donations from people for my community and my church and ensuring it with my sister. That is burdensome also because i feel like im taking away from people who could also be using this lifesustaining medicine but it also makes me appreciate that there is good in the world and the selflessness of some people. I cant tell you the last time i filled a prescription for my insulin. Its been really hard to just estimate how long might supply will last. You talked about getting a new job and one that includes employerbased health care coverage. How has could you speak about that was that coverage and the difference. If i want to go to the doctor for a checkup or go get my teeth cleaned and get new glasses or go to the gynecologist or anything like that. What i need to live is just hard. Its just really hard and i just dont understand. I just dont understand. I want to dig into that more because there are other associated costs which people often overlook so if you could expand upon that a little bit. Yes, its not just insulin but i need needles and test strips and alcohol swabs, glucose tablets, extra food just in general and also have celiac disease. Its not like i can just eat anything or, you know, its just been a very costly to live. I do feel sometimes like this in myself so why do i have to suffer . Why do we have to suffer . There was a recent bus feed article that was speaking about the fact that many twentysomethings will no longe longer if you are not carried on your parents insurance youre in a precarious position thats putting some young adults and and particularly acute with regard to someone like you. You are living with type one diabetes. If you and your sister have not been able to use a parent insurance in recent years but have faced those struggles of those who lost their employer coverage at that age and can you tell me what happened when your mother lost her job . When you were children . Im sorry. Sorry. Things started to spiral out of control. I was really scared. A few months after she lost her job i was suicidal. I did not want to continue to struggle and i did not know how me and my sister would make it. I did not know how my mom would be able to provide for herself so losing her coverage it put us in a really bad spots. Bank you, ms. Skipper. Think all of you. The fact that from hospitalizations to stockpiling or buying insulin on the black market too Many Americans<\/a> are cutting corners in their medical care simply to stay alive. That is unacceptable. Thank you. Seriously, mr. Chairman . Im the eldest of 14 up and taking care of people all my life. When i have emotions is because i think challenges. This committee [inaudible] i want to thank all of you for speaking up because, i mean, i can speak for some of us here and theres a lack of urgency. There is a lack of urgency. When the mother was talking about missing or coming here because she had to be a voice for so many people cant be in this room i want to take you for that. I know how hard it is. Our kids will be fine sometimes but we are the one feeling more guilt than they are. Mom, im doing great. Im with my friends but one of the things the broken system and this frustration i have and i thank you all have put a human face to something. For years i feel like it has not truly been translated into the human impact and until it got so broken down and so to the point where your people rationing the of people actually dying right before your eyes because weve allowed corporate greed and allowed corporate greed to come before the people. We, the government in this chamber, we are responsible to protect you from it. I want to apologize and i want to apologize. Ive only been here seven months but not on my watch. I will humanize the impact and pushback against corporate greed. Its not just us but congresswoman kellyanne all of us in this room and many of us are not now in this room but we truly, sincerely care about your life. A woman came up to meet at a coffee hour instead rashida, i dont understand that theyre saying insulin is not Preventive Care<\/a> but you dont understand insulin prevents death. I said absolutely. She said her company, this is a big company, said they decided to change the system so now that she has too literally like wait for one month, 2800 she had put together to pick up her sons insulin. She said i cant wait for a bill to pass for people to wake up here. I will put it on my letterhead so on my letterhead i said what are you doing . You are a corporation. I took the Mission Statement<\/a> of the corporation and said youre supposed to be about people. Right . What about without telling them who it was said what are you doing . You are allowing people to die on your health insurance. She told me she went in last week to go pick up her sons insulin and she got together 2800 and i knew where she lived and it was hard for her to raise the money. She went in and she said i dont know what you did but its 244 now. Right . Thats still too much but that means theres a will. They are waiting for us to tell them to stop. Right . Moms notice. When theres bad behavior we subsidize and weve done research and development to say that you are supposed to be able to provide for the American People<\/a> access to drugs that help them live. I want you to know continue to be bold and continue to ask for more. Even when folks say we all agree thats great. Actions speak louder. And so, i want each of you to tell me in your own personal opinion why you think we have not acted in congress . Lets start with you. Drug companies are monopolies or have monopolies Pricing Power<\/a>. Monopolies by definition have unlimited resources to defend their monopolies with Political Campaign<\/a> contributions. And lobbyist. There is 1. 5 lobbyists for every one of you in the United States<\/a> congress. 1. 5. Thats like daunting high. I think its both the fact that they use their monopoly Pricing Power<\/a> to maintain their monopoly Pricing Power<\/a> and stop reform from happening. I dont know the answer but i think the searing is, like you said, putting a hearing face to the issue. I think theres a lot of donations that happen. Maybe pushback to the back of the shelf but i can tell is sitting here today that you will do something about it. My disease is really treatable. Its not so treatable for these people but its not okay. The question why havent you acted is a interesting question. I will say i think congress has acted. But because of congress my son is participating in a Clinical Trial<\/a> that i believe is helping him. I believe patients are accessing Treatment Center<\/a> and i think everyone in this room and everyone listening is acting right now. I think that is what we need to focus on. Lets not do well and why we have not solved this yet but lets keep doing the next right thing and lets figure it out and lets do that. Thank you very much. I would say from a patients perspective not really knowing and i dont know how all this works but it seems like the people up top benefit from this. I dont know if its a Financial Way<\/a> or whatever way but it seems like you get a piece of the pie, someway, somehow. Thank you. Maam, im a retired teacher from indiana but to me its money. I think its money. Its the lobbyists and its pressure put on people to do things according to the money rather than the good. I also see a lot of bipartisan fighting that i think is inconsequential to come down to peoples lives but there needs to be more cooperation and i do think i am 70 years old and hopeful things will change before i die. Im hopeful in meetings like this that things are finally happening and i started coming to washington dc two years ago to help promote the [inaudible] bill. Im frustrated its still not passed entirely but im excited its making progress. Im learning how the Government Works<\/a> and how slow it is. For me, thats frustrating but im excited to see progress being made. Thanks. Thank you very much. Mr. Kelly. Thank you for having my back. [laughter] i, too, want to thank you all for being here. Its not easy to tell your story in front of congress, cameras and people in the audience. I truly, truly appreciate all you being here. Mr. Chairman, i appreciate you for having this and am proud to serve on this committee but im also proud to be member of energy and commerce. It makes me feel good to hear that you say we are moving along and what we are doing is meaningful and we are working in a bipartisan weight which is good for here. There are so many other ways that we are not but we definitely are in energy and commerce. When i came to congress which ive been in my current year my district had the highest rate of foreclosures in the state of illinois and some of the people lost their jobs and some of it went for hokey joke mortgage but also some of it was because of a medical reason and cannot afford to keep their homes. I think we are on the rebound and things are getting a little better and for the other reasons but not for the medical reasons but im also the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus<\/a> brain trust and is a top ten diseases that people die from africanamericans are one in eight of them and so, ms. Skipper, we worked a lot with your issue and the other thing in that capacity i am responsible for two conferences a year and one conference someone shared that they have asthma in their asthma inhaler is 325 in the United States<\/a> and she left her inhaler at home and was in south africa. The same exact inhaler, same exact company, everything and the inhaler was 25. In coming to congress ive gotten more aware of the issues that every day people, my nextdoor neighbor, who ever had to go through in this fight lowering Prescription Drug<\/a>s or having to choose between paying bills and buying a drug or eating so i promise you i will continue to work really hard in this area on both of these committees. One question and i dont know if you know the answer but my colleague ms. Alexandria ocasiocortez and you may have some of the answer but the money that companies spend in advertising you cant open a magazine without seeing pages and pages and i dont know if you would know split 6 trillion a year. And we subsidize it. Thats the unfortunate thing. Were the theres only two countries in the world that allow direct to consumer advertising. Us and new zealand. We give a tax rate to these companies to send those advertisements our way. The only reason they do it is to make more money. It encourages people and perhaps in some cases to use drugs they dont necessarily even need. I will ask you a question but is there anything more you want us to know that you do not already say . Anything . I do want to say i would love to come visit with you and talk about the sicklecell cure that nih is bringing forward soon. And how we make sure that that drug developed inside the wells of walls of mi8 and conducting Clinical Trials<\/a> and spent at least half a billion dollars and i will make sure that drug comes to the market at a price that is affordable and inaccessible. I have been meeting with people and in this building 2416, come anytime. Does the gentle lady yield . I meant, you. I wanted to follow up on this question about advertising. Im not thought of that before. Thank you, mr. Mitchell, that telling us that its only the u. S. And new zealand the permits television advertising. Are you suggesting that should be banned or that the cost of those ads should not be taxdeductible for the businesses or ordinary business expenses . The courts have ruled that the Drug Companies<\/a> have a First Amendment<\/a> right to advertise but the National Academy<\/a> of science of engineering and medicine keyboard with a report 18 months ago that he recommended you eliminate the Tax Deduction<\/a> and that will reduce it by a large amount. I dont know were subsidizing their advertising. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you for having this hearing and for the Ranking Member<\/a>, thank you for making it nonpartisan. I want to follow up on the earlier discussion having spent a good deal of time and i would recommend to anybody and id like to recommend books our daily meds and i dont know if you read it but its called how the pharmaceutical companies transform themselves into slick Marketing Companies<\/a> the American People<\/a>. This is not a new phenomenon. We took pharmaceutical companies being driven by research and they were usually researchers and became the ceos and the got a reasonable rate of return on their investment and for a variety of reasons, not just directed to pharmaceutical industries but more towards the finance industry this book will tell you they did extensive focus and groups 1520 years ago and what their professions and industries that americans trusted and turned out that we trust people with white smocks and doctors and armistice in researchers so they went in and bought up shares and turned them into a marketing company. They act like this is something that just happened has become so bad that we finally attention. It needs to be stopped. I know my colleagues have heard this before but sometimes repeats things lots of times in this building. I know this because i have a pill in my pocket that is sold by Johnson Johnson<\/a> it keeps me alive. I have a form of leukemia and thankful for this bill. 500 all put it up here. Most expensive thing on me until 3 00 oclock in the afternoon most of the research for that bill came from the department of defense. If you learn about the study of blood cancers that started because of sailors and soldiers getting mustard gas during world war i. We spent a lot of research trying to help soldiers to be inoculated. Everybody pull me dont do it, you have to get your medical service at the county hospital and my kids and i got great service. Its a classic public option that would work in this country and does work in some instances. So they help that i dont have the cost that you have because thats my supplemental. That bill was 400 a year ago and then they changed the formula. This pill and four australia cost 6. With fully loaded cost 37. Where does the rest of that money go to. It does not go to research. A study published in law and bioscience found 22 of drugs receiving new ponds between 2005 in 2015 were actually new drugs. The study concluded rather than creating new medicine, pharmaceutical companies are recycling and repurposing old ones. According to a gao study Innovative Products<\/a> accounted for only 13 of fda approval each year from 2002 2016. Therein lies the problem. Another hearing we had an executive here and i said we want investment but we want to to get a reasonable rate of return. It was mostly high risk high return. You game the system at a very low risk and high return and in the meantime people are going bankrupt, people are losing their lives, i have a son named jordan in your story relates to me on multiple levels. This is outrageous. It is a crime. These people should not be executives they should be imprisoned in my view. You have any comments custome . When Drug Companies<\/a> do what you describe and patents on old drugs, 70 of all the patents filed on drugs are filed nonexisting drugs. If they are filing patents on existing drugs to extend the monopoly on the old drugs they are not doing what they all say we want which is investing intubation. Investing in research and development where they will bring the cure for her boy that might cure cancer before i die. You guys have got to stop this abuse that allows them to milk old drugs by gaining the system instead of doing what we need them to do is invest in innovation and new Drug Development<\/a> and we have to keep in mind that a lot is subsidized by the markham public. You have to get them back focused on developing new drugs instead of milking profits from all drugs. I want to thank you all once again, your testimony is really important and people need to hear our stories. Thank you mr. Truman i yield back. Thank you, mr. Chairman and they get free leadership. And thank you to all of you for sharing your stories and being so vulnerable and for sharing something that is so personal and for your courage in doing that to help our country move forward. I appreciate your comment that youre here not just as an academic exercise, you want to see some action. One of the things that weve talked about for the longest time but dont do anything is medicare for all. It will finally give the government the ability to negotiate and lower the drug prices. And Lyndon Johnson<\/a> first pass medicare anticipated we would have medicare for all. In 25 years ago senator had 25 hearings in the Senate Finance<\/a> committee in the healthcare reform in all of these experts in at the end of it he said there is one solution paid lets extend medicare. President trump said why dont we have a single healthcare system, its better than anything that we have. We keep talking about this and we keep having folks like you testify and nothing gets done. I want to ask each of you, starting with mr. Mitchell, do you think medicare for all would help . It only focuses on drug prices, and we want very much for people to have access to affordable and accessible care but we dont have a position on medicare for all or any of the steps that you can take to ensure that people get the access to conference of coverage. What your personal opinion . I will not express one because im here on behalf of the organization. I stay in my lane. I respect that. Mr. Craig . You asked the question over my head. I dont have an opinion on that. Im only time i experienced with my issue with the drug that caused 1100 a month with insurance. I respect that. Does anyone have an opinion . As i previously stated, i dont know all the ins and outs of everything but i can state, be in the face of a campaign, i go down my Instagram Newsfeed<\/a> and i see people from other countries who are completely outraged that i have to pay for insulin at all. So if that is what medicare for all leads to the net is something that i definitely support for someone with fibromyalgia or anything like that the doesnt have to pay for hundreds of thousands for something that they need to live. Then yes i would support that. Ms. Help . I may be the only one on the panel that is on medicare right now. Medicare for me includes medicare plus a supplement. Even with that, my drug prices are sky high. So if that does not change then no im not favor for medicare for all. Thats very fair point. The medicare has not been able to negotiate for drug prices which some of us have wanted to do, part of that is because we dont have a generic competition, let me ask a second question, the president came to the state of unit into the markets should not be paying more for our drugs than people in britain, france, germany, would folks there and we can start with anyone who wants to answer. Support the idea that if it American Drug<\/a> is priced higher than the drugs in the five leading countries, germany, france, britain, japan, then american should pay the same prices people in other countries or we should open it up to generic competition . We strongly support direct medicare price negotiation and interference caused. And to negotiate drug prices. There is absolutely no reason that we should be paying two to three times what other countries pay for the exact same drugs in the exact same boxes, you can fix it if we can pass medicare. Anybody else want to weigh in . I would agree with mr. Mitchell, the founder of t1 International Actually<\/a> moved from the United States<\/a> to london to be able to afford her insulin. I know there probably more like her who have had to leave the country in order to live. Thank you very much. Mrs. Maloney. Thank you, mr. Chairman for this really incredibly important hearing and all of our panelists for helping to build the case and putting the misery that americans are facing with these unAffordable Drugs<\/a> i believe its a National Scandal<\/a> that they are able to charge his prices without any accountability for how they are raising, why they are raising and i want to mention four ways that congress can act tomorrow to combat this based on your testimony today. First of all, competition has paid a delay that competitors are literally paid not to come forward with the generic or other ways that they delay the process moving forward, i heard from your testimony and also the gaming of the system where they say they delay and delay when you should have a generic, they file patents from old drugs so the time is longer, that is also hurting people and he just pointed out the fact that they can be so much cheaper overseas is an absolute outrage that we pay for the production, research and yet when it goes overseas its affordable but not here in america. I think your story on insulin is so moving. This was discovered over 100 years ago, the scientist gave it to the American People<\/a>, they did not want people to make money off of his invention and yet now it is unaffordable or not even affordable in many places in america to the point that americans are dying. We need to change us and work to make it happen, i want to follow up with ms. Craig on your story where you talk about your inflammatory condition, can you describe what it is like with this condition and what your drug that you received is now unaffordable, humira, tell us what it does for you and what its like if you do not have this drug that you cannot afford now. That is opening up a can worms. Your epidermis is her largest organ. When i am in a full psoriatic flareup, the lasso was two years ago and it lasted ten months, i was covered from head to tell them what some would call a lesions, on top of that all of my joints, eight i am self employed, im a hairstylist and it affected my business i had to wait six months to go through three processes knowing i would not be able to afford the drugs once they got approved. And there is no generics available. This truck is been on since 2002. That is crazy. It is 80 cheaper overseas. Is a scam. The science is there. In your testimony, you said your written testimony your successful hairdresser, you make a good salary, better than most americans but yet the cost of your drug was more than your car payment, more than your Business Insurance<\/a> and more than what you spent for food in a month. And not having it has totally impacted your health, can you still work without the drug. I can because i been in remission the last two years. Ive had to wean off of humira, go back on it, wean off of it, im currently on an old drug. You also wrote that abby has filed over 250 patent additional patents on humira effectively delaying the generic drug and any competition for decades. Is that correct . Yes. That is manipulating the system to not allow americans to afford it. We should stop that and being that immediately. I would like to say the 247 pounds, that was only last year. What is the total do you know . I believe they filed 247 patents, three short of what you estimated. I understand that you take emerald now, manufactured . Neu do not take that ive been on it before but the cost was under 1200 a month. I want to say i am distressed beyond belief that they have manipulated the system to run the price up so you cannot afford the drugs that you need and i am sorry that youve had to face this challenge for your health and it is something that we as a Congress Need<\/a> to act on as soon as possible. All of you have helped make the case and i want to thank you. Mr. Gom gomez. Thank you, mr. Chairman, this is been going on for decades. I was curious about price gouging when it came to insulin i did a Google Search<\/a> and found that lawsuits from 1940 or 1941, basically accusing the companies of price gouging, this is not anything new it is been going on for decades but what are we to do about it. A lot of times it is difficult but we have to keep pushing and come up with new ideas and i think there is a morbid commitment than ever but that does not mean it always translates to legislative victories. I was in the california legislator and we push through some reforms but we got it done. But i always say that we need to continue to highlight people story to make it a powerful impact. That is why all of you are here, i want people to hear your stories and empathize, one of the things that i realize is the impact very from persontoperson and its definitely something that people should be able to feel if theyre not directly impacted. Ms. Skipper he mentioned that you and your sister shared insulin in order to manage your type one diabetes. How long did you and your sister share . We are still sherry. When did you and your sister first decide to share . I dont think it was more or less a decision, i think it was something we were forced to do. How long would you say . About seven years. What kind of impact does it have on your health to share insulin . To sum it up, i dont know what a good day is. I dont know what a day to feel okay, i dont know what that feels like. There has not been a day where i dont have high blood sugar readings, there has not been a day where i dont have aches and pains, there is often a day where i have been completely exhausted so to explain it, the best way can i dont know what a good day feels like. So we do know that because you dont know what a good day feels like because of your symptoms that there is probably an underlying and chronic impact on your health that will probably, im not a doctor but assuming that is not good in the long term and we need to make sure you and your sister get the support insulin that you need. What were you feeling when your sister was in the hospital . Angry. I was angry and for some reason i felt guilty, i dont know why because i know i dont control the price of the drug i just did not understand why im giving this corporation 40 hours a week and i cannot afford what i need and my sister has basically put her life on the line to ensure that im a life, i was very angry and also like i said very shameful because it was hard to see my sister fighting for her life and i was ashamed i cannot get what i needed because she did not have to be in that position. I feel your anger, i think the American People<\/a> should also feel your anger. I grew up without health insurance, i know what it is like to see your parents worry about you. If you get sick, what does that mean. Are you going to get better, can you get the access you need, we have positives in our Healthcare Systems<\/a> but a lot of negatives so we need to work together. But i think sharing your story, making sure people know especially with International Organization<\/a> to make sure that we share those stories, there are some folks here that have four, 5 million twitter followers, i do not have that many but i think adding her voice over and over could help make a difference. I thank you all for being here ensuring your stories. Its important. Thank you so much. Thank you rematch. One thing mr. Mitchell, it has nearly tripled the price of cancer drugs that witnesses are taking. Is that right . More than tripled in that sense, it was launched in 2005 this truck cost almost 225,000 per year and it is sold 10 billion from the drug in 2018 alone. What did it do with all of the money . First to give the ceo of pay raise. This conversation was worth 16point to Million Dollars<\/a> in 2018 and 3 million more was added to that in the previous month and 3 million more than the previous year. Salaries, tell me about that. Of these drug manufacturing ce ceos. You think that plays a role in these price hikes . Yes and i think the issue that was raised about stock buybacks in the shortterm focus of the Drug Companies<\/a> is one of the things not getting us what we want because theyre running up prices in order to drive up stock price to get higher bonuses, do more stock buyback and not enough focus is being paid on the innovation that everyone of us at this table wants. So, you take an old drug, and one year, 2018 they ran up the price 19. 8 in 112 month period in one of the reasons was because they had a failed Crohns Disease<\/a> trial and had to take 700 million charge so they increased the price to plug the hole. In order to about both the stock price. These are the games that these companies play. Thank you very much. I want to thank all of you for being here today, before i conclude the hearing, i would liklike to enter into the recoro letters the committee has received in recent days, one for a medicine access acknowledge and one from the national expanding medical association, these letters discuss the impact that Drug Companies<\/a> actions with high drug prices having on the communities all across the country and i asked unanimous consent to be entered to the record. Let me again thank all of you for being here, it is not easy on national tv to talk about your pain. And you are talking about some of the things that are very, very personal. And a lot of times when people are suffering its almost like they are suffering alone. They feel like society, nobody knows what theyre going through. I can tell you that there are a lot of people who feel the same way that you are feeling. They may not be going through exactly what youre going through but thats what we in the congress have to move, we dont have any choice. I saw something here today and i am proud to be the chairman of this committee. I watch our members cry, i watched you all cry, and it is because there is a tremendous pain that comes with hearing your stories. And i think for most of us your pain is our pain. Your dreams are our dreams, our hopes are your hopes. And i wanted to encourage you to keep forging on, i heard you talk about, mr. Mitchell how they will come a day when your options are now. When your options run out, and im sure that you worry about going to the doctor and the doctor telling you sorry, your options have run out. But when there are options in there at our fingertips but because of cost and greed its almost like youre reaching for the option and you just cannot get there and be one thing if it was going to militate you for a minute but when your life is going to in as i often say when youre dead youre dead. So, it reminds me of one of the greatest hospitals in the world, doing a lot of great things, the hospital that saved my life but i know theres a lot of people also to the hospital who you want to get in the door, they know the cure in treatment is there, they cannot get in the door. So to all of you, i want you to keep forging ahead. Keep in mind the words that i said and i want you to put on the dna of every cell of your brain, pain, action and purpose. Let me tell you something, you being here today, all of you are giving other people hope. You really are. But we have a responsibility to pray to make sure we give life to your hope. And that little boy who is racing, i watch you as you talk about the hug and how precious the hug is and what it means to you. And i cannot hardly wait to give it back to them. But when you come in here, all of you and talk about what youre going through but still forging on and youre trying to help somebody else, keep in mind it is not just you that you are seeking out for, and thats the thing i love about all of you, he said no matter what i will make life better for some deals two. So we will do everything in our power to help you to where you gotta go. Because life is precious and msu and you talk about in the impression that your life was spiraling downward, that is not a good feeling, is not a good feeling when youve given so much of your life over and over again, taking care your schoolteacher, and doing everything youre supposed to do. And all you want to do is be able to hug your grandchildren. Be able to go to the park sometimes, and text them the fact is, those are basic things and you want to be abl able to o down the aisle when your daughter gets married and tell her wer how to work address ant shoes to wear. All of that goes to the quality of life. By the way is not just living it is about living a life of quality. Again i think all of you for been here, i wanted to tell you and make you feel somehow, we will have the drug company folks sitting in the same seat as soon as we come back. Were going to try to understand why theyre doing what theyre doing and i do believe, as i close, the first conversation that i have with President Trump<\/a> was something that he said and ill never forget he said the Drug Companies<\/a> are getting away with murder. That is what he said getting away with murder. And he is right. Because every time 70 cannot afford the medication, every time they fisher insulin and all of the things that you talked about, they are. Im not putting all on the Drug Companies<\/a> but this is the United States<\/a> of america, this is not the way the country is and we are to be able to resolve these issues. I want to think the members for being here and i cannot in this without saying this because this been bothering me. We get a lot of complaints, we had a lot of dialogue about her freshman members. And i have to tell you ms. Ocasiocortez, ms. Presley, are some of the hardest working members of the congress and i told somebody the other day that as i listen to them i am inspired. Because i realize that im toward the toilet of my life. But to know that they are there and they will take this up and they will carry the ball down the field skimming for a football metaphor, im a football fan. That means something to me. It is important to me. So thank you very much and with that, without objection all members all members will have five legislative days to submit additional written request to the witnesses which will be forwarded to the witnesses for the response, i asked her witnesses to please respond as probably as you are able to. This hearing is adjourned. [inaudible conversations] weeknights this month we are featuring programs showcasing what is available every weekend on cspan2. The theme is writing and publishing. Robert caro discusses his book working with talkshow host conan obrien. Steve luxemburg discussed the writing routine and some of the challenges faced by nonfiction authors at the san antonio book festival. Also a talk about Book Publishing<\/a> and polarization from the bay area book festival. Watching that eight eastern on cspan2 and enjoy book to be this week and every weekend on cspan2. Watch book tv for live coverage at the National Book<\/a> festival. Saturday august 31 starting attending and eastern, of our coverage will include just just just Ruth Bader Ginsburg<\/a> all my own words. Davids book is the heartbeat of wounded me. Sharon robinson talks about her book, child of the dream, Rick Atkinson<\/a> author of the british are coming in Thomas Malone<\/a> founding director of the mip center for collective intelligence discusses his book super mines. The National Book<\/a> festival, life saturday august 31 at tenney and eastern on booktv on cspan2. The first africans to land would arrive in 1619 and that would begin an amazing experience in the development of the United States<\/a>. Saturday American History<\/a> tv, washington journal future as we look back to the first arrival of africans to america. 400 years ago at Point Comfort<\/a> virginia. At 8 30 a. M. Eastern were live with State University<\/a> history professor Cassondra Alexander<\/a> newby for the history and origins of slavery in america. Then at 930 live coverage of the commander in ceremony with speeches by virginia government officials senator mark warner, jim kaine, Ralph Northam<\/a> and Lieutenant Governor<\/a> dustin perfect. The history of africans in america from fort monroe, life saturday beginning at 8 30 a. M. On cspan washington journal in American History<\/a> tv on cspan3. We will talk more about the endangeredci","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia801006.us.archive.org\/10\/items\/CSPAN2_20190821_170400_House_Oversight_Hearing_on_Prescription_Drug_Prices\/CSPAN2_20190821_170400_House_Oversight_Hearing_on_Prescription_Drug_Prices.thumbs\/CSPAN2_20190821_170400_House_Oversight_Hearing_on_Prescription_Drug_Prices_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240716T12:35:10+00:00"}