{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.collins.senate.gov/newsroom/senator-collins-questions-experts-ways-reduce-prescription-drug-costs", "Senator Collins Questions Experts on Ways to Reduce Prescription Drug Costs", "2017-12-12", "2017", "2017-12", "Republican", "House", "ME", "Susan Collins", "C001035", "www.collins.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Click HERE to watch Senator Collins\u2019 Q&A with hearing witnesses\nNote to assignment editors and news directors: Click HERE for high-quality video of Senator Collins\u2019 Q&A with hearing witnesses\nWashington, D.C. -\u00a0Today, the Senate Health Committee held the final hearing in a three-part series on reducing the cost of prescription drugs. The hearing focused on the recently released report from the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on the rising costs of prescription drugs titled, \u201cMaking Medicines Affordable: A National Imperative.\u201d \u00a0The committee examined the recommendations of the report and listened to testimony from experts on how best to reduce the cost of prescription drugs for consumers while preserving access and innovation.\nU.S. Senator Susan Collins, a member of the Senate Health Committee and the Chairman of the Senate Aging Committee, has championed bipartisan efforts in Congress to increase funding for opioid abuse prevention and treatment as well as medical research.\n\u00a0\nDuring the hearing, Senator Collins referenced a report broadcast in October by NBC \u201cNightly News,\u201d which revealed that some contracts between pharmacy benefit managers and pharmacies prohibit pharmacists from telling consumers if their prescription would cost less if they paid for it out-of-pocket rather than using their insurance.\n\u00a0\n\u201cNBC did a piece that showed that a consumer who had a co-pay of $43 for a cholesterol drug would have only payed $19 if that consumer had paid out-of-pocket,\u201d said Senator Collins. \u201cWhat would you think of having the federal government ban this practice of gag clauses as a condition of participation in the Medicare or Medicaid programs?\u201d\n\u00a0\nIn response, Norm Augustine, the Chair of the Committee on Ensuring Patient Access to Affordable Drug Therapies, said, \u201cOur committee addressed the broad issue that you raised, and it\u2019s our belief that the way to resolve that is dealing with a larger issue: the lack of transparency. The fact is that people don\u2019t know what is in the agreements that are made between, for example, the drug companies and those in the supply chain, so most people will never even know that a gag clause is there today.\u201d\n\u00a0\nSenator Collins also criticized the \u201cpatent thicket\u201d strategy, where some drug companies obtain numerous overlapping patents to stave off competition.\n\u00a0\n\u201cFor example, in the case of Humira\u2026 AbbVie has obtained more than 100 patents that have blocked competitors from coming to the market,\u201d said Senator Collins. \u201cHow can we counter the strategy of a manufacturer attempting to extend the patent, in this case, to almost twice what it should have been?\u201d\n\u00a0\nDr. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, President of American Action Forum, echoed Senator Collins\u2019 concerns regarding the patent thicket strategy and suggested that one solution would be to get \u201cbetter value-based pricing,\u201d which seeks to set prices based on a prescription drug\u2019s ability to enhance lifespans and the quality of life.\u00a0 According to Dr. Holtz-Eakin, this would avoid increasing the value of the me-too patent by ensuring companies could not charge any more money for it.\n\u00a0\n\u201cThere are circumstances that I\u2019ve seen recently that appear to be just sheer abuse of monopoly power.\u00a0 That should be referred to the anti-trust authorities and should be prosecuted,\u201d Dr. Holtz-Eakin continued.\n\u00a0\n\u201cI completely agree with you that this monopoly is being used to protect profits rather than patients and R & D, the development of new drugs,\u201d Senator Collins responded.\u00a0 \u201cI think it is something we need to take a look at.\u201d\n\u00a0\nAs Chairman of the Senate Aging Committee, last year Senator Collins led a bipartisan investigation into the causes, impacts, and potential solutions to egregious price spikes for certain generic, off-patent drugs.\u00a0 Following her investigation, a bill that Senator Collins authored to improve generic competition and lower the cost of prescription drugs was signed into law as part of the FDA Reauthorization Act.\n\u00a0\nWitnesses testifying at today\u2019s Health Committee hearing included:\n\u00a0\n \nNorm Augustine, Chair of Committee on Ensuring Patient Access to Affordable Drug Therapies, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine\nDavid Mitchell, President and Founder, Patients for Affordable Drugs\nDoug Holtz-Eakin, President, American Action Forum\n \nClick HERE to read their testimonies.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.collins.senate.gov/newsroom/senator-collins-questions-experts-ways-reduce-prescription-drug-costs"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5990522224456072, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}